Read
Psalm 64:8
Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
6They plot injustice, saying, “We have made a perfect plan!” Surely man’s mind and heart are cunning.
7But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.
8Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
9All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done.
10The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him!
Notice
Their own tongues become the plotters’ undoing, a stark reversal in which those who planned injustice face ruin under the gaze of others.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What stands out to you about the plotters being ruined by their own tongues?
Write on thisHow does the crowd’s head-shaking shape your reading of this judgment?
Write on thisWhat concern about harmful speech would you bring to God after reading this reversal?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Proverbs 18:7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.Both passages describe a speaker’s own mouth becoming the means of destruction.
Proverbs 12:13An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.Both describe evil speakers caught by their own speech: tongues bring ruin, and sinful lips become a trap.
Psalm 140:9As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.Psalm 140 asks for the harm of enemies’ lips to fall back on them; Psalm 64 declares that reversal.
Job 15:6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.Both connect a person’s own words with condemnation; Job records Eliphaz making that charge against Job.
Psalm 31:11Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.Both describe adverse reactions from onlookers, though Psalm 31’s speaker suffers contempt rather than announcing the plotters’ ruin.
Psalm 22:7All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,Both mention witnesses shaking their heads, though Psalm 22 describes mockery of the speaker rather than the ruin of plotters.
Jeremiah 48:27For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.Both mention head-shaking, but Jeremiah describes it as derision toward Israel, while Psalm 64 describes witnesses reacting to the plotters.
Nahum 3:7It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?’ Where will I seek comforters for …Both depict ruin witnessed by others: people shake their heads at the plotters and flee from devastated Nineveh.
Matthew 21:41Both passages describe destruction for wrongdoers, though Matthew’s vineyard judgment does not mention their own words undoing them.
Luke 19:22“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down and …Both connect judgment with the condemned person’s own speech: the plotters’ tongues ruin them, and the servant’s words become grounds for judgment.
Jeremiah 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head.Both describe people shaking their heads at witnessed devastation, directed toward the plotters in the psalm and the land in Jeremiah.
Psalm 94:23He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. The LORD, our God, will cut them off.Both describe wrongdoing returning upon its perpetrators, with their own tongues or their own wickedness bound up with their ruin.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. work conflict. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The plotters’ confidence does not put them beyond God’s judgment. Their own speech becomes their undoing, and the surrounding verses name God as the one who acts.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).