Read
Psalm 73:9
They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
7Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
8They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
9They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
10Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.
11They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Notice
A mouth set in heaven and a tongue roaming earth picture arrogance that claims room everywhere, leaving the reader facing speech that recognizes no bounds.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What kind of claim to authority do you hear in a mouth set in the heavens?
Write on thisWhere have you encountered speech whose reach seems as unchecked as this tongue walking through the earth?
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
Revelation 13:6He opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his dwelling, and those who dwell in heaven.Both passages connect the mouth with heaven in descriptions of defiant speech; Revelation names its target as God and those dwelling there.
James 3:6And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is …Both portray the tongue through an outsized image: walking through the earth in the psalm and spreading fire in James.
Exodus 5:2Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”Pharaoh’s refusal to heed the LORD shares the arrogance pictured by the mouth set in the heavens.
Job 15:25Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,Both use bodily images to portray arrogance toward God: a mouth set in heaven and a hand stretched against him.
Daniel 7:25He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and they will be given …Daniel names speech against the Most High, sharing the heavenward defiance pictured in the psalm’s mouth.
Hosea 7:16They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their …Both single out the tongue in their accounts of wrongdoing; Hosea describes its rage, while the psalm pictures its unchecked reach.
2 Chronicles 32:15Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you nor persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his …The boast against God’s power to deliver shares the arrogance of the psalm’s mouth set in the heavens.
Daniel 3:15Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which …The king’s threat and challenge about divine rescue echo the surrounding psalm’s oppressive speech and its mouth raised toward heaven.
Psalm 73:11They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”The question about the Most High’s knowledge makes explicit the contempt suggested by the mouth set in the heavens.
Isaiah 36:20Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”The challenge to the LORD’s ability to deliver Jerusalem shares the psalm’s portrait of speech raised in arrogance toward heaven.
2 Kings 19:22Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!Both describe speech raised high in defiance; Kings names the one defied as the Holy One of Israel.
2 Chronicles 32:16His servants spoke yet more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.Speech against the LORD and Hezekiah shares the psalm’s picture of arrogance reaching toward heaven and across the earth.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. envy and comparison. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
If arrogant speech has left you unsettled, this psalm treats its reach as something worth naming. Even a mouth set in the heavens remains a human mouth.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 73:9. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 73 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
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).