Read Psalm 52 at Bible Gateway.
The structure of this psalm is a reverse parallelism with smaller chiastic structures embedded within it:
1a) Psa 52:1-5a, The evil tongue of the wicked:
1a)Psa 52:1a, The wicked unleashes his evil tongue to boast in evil: Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
central axis) Psa 52:1b, The goodness of God endures continually;
2a) Psa 52:2-5a, The evil tongue speaks devouring words and lies:
1a) Psa 52:2a, Destruction: Your tongue devises destruction;
1b) Psa 52:2b,Deceit: Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully;
1c) Psa 52:3a, Delight: You love evil more than good;
central axis) Psa 52:3b, The evil tongue: Lying rather than speaking righteousness; Selah
2c) Psa 52:4a, Delight: You love all devouring words;
2b) Psa 52:4b, Deceit: You deceitful tongue;
2a) Psa 52:5a, Destruction: God shall likewise destroy you forever; {n}
1b) Psa 52:5b-7, The wicked uprooted who trusted in his riches;
2b) Psa 52:8, The righteous planted who trust in God: I am like a green olive tree in the house of God, {n} I trust in the mercy of God forever;
2a) Psa 52:9, The edifying tongue of the righteous: I will praise You forever; I will wait on Your name, for it is good. {p}
The evil tongue, evil speaking, is a grave sin in the Lord’s sight but one we in our day and age pay little heed to. Engaging in evil speaking is the crux of disobedience to Do not bear false witness. The 1A pair reveals to us that evil speaking is evil, because it is essentially at its root, lying rather than speaking righteousness. Lying is the same sin the enemy utilized in the Garden, and is the greatest tool of the enemy’s arsenal. He has lied from the beginning, and is the father of it (Joh 8:44).
By contrast, the tongue of the righteous edifies and speaks the truth of God’s word. I think family members especially have to be on guard against evil speaking. The enemy lies to us about our spouses, children, parents, and extended family in order to create strife and division. When we hear those thoughts in our head, “He will never amount to anything,” “He/ she doesn’t love me,” “I don’t love him/ her,” “She will always fail,” whatever they are, the source of those lies is the father of lies. We must not agree with them and repeat them, that is evil speaking. We give lying words power to create that reality when we repeat them.
I can hear someone ask, But what if it is true? Look, when God was faced with darkness, He did not say, It is dark. Instead, He spoke His word of truth: “Let there be light,” and there was. He created the true reality by His edifying words.
“God has chosen the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.” 1 Cor 1:28
He has given us dominion and stripped the enemy of all his power by the triumph of Jesus Christ. The only power the enemy wields now is his lying words, to try to convince us to agree with him, and by our own power of our words, create his evil reality. Let us repent of evil speaking, let us repent of listening to lying, destructive, devouring words, let us break our agreement with the enemy, and let us resolve to repeat the Lord’s true words after Him – even about ourselves. ♥
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