“For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 59:12 Mean?
"For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak." David prays that his enemies would be caught by their own words. Their sin is verbal: cursing, lying, proud speech. And David asks God to use those very words as the trap. Let them be taken in their pride — let the arrogance that drives their speech become the snare that catches them.
The principle is poetic justice: the weapon becomes the trap. The words designed to destroy David become the evidence that convicts his enemies. Their mouth condemns them. Their lips testify against them. They build the gallows with their own vocabulary.
Reflection Questions
- 1.When have you watched someone's own words become their trap — their pride or lies catching up to them?
- 2.How does the principle of 'taken in their pride' encourage you to be patient with false accusers?
- 3.Where are you tempted to defend yourself when waiting might let the truth emerge on its own?
- 4.What does David's prayer for poetic justice teach about trusting God's timing rather than forcing your own vindication?
Devotional
Let them be taken in their pride. Let their own words trap them. David prays for the most satisfying form of justice: the enemy's weapon becoming the enemy's prison.
The sin is speech: cursing, lying, arrogant declarations. David's enemies aren't attacking with swords. They're attacking with words — slander, false accusations, proud threats that are designed to damage reputation and destroy standing. And David's prayer is: let those same words be the thing that catches them.
This happens more often than people realize. The liar gets caught by their own lies — contradictions that pile up until the whole structure collapses. The proud person's arrogant declarations become the standard by which they're measured and found wanting. The curser finds the curse returning to their own head. Words are boomerangs. What you launch at someone else tends to circle back.
David doesn't need to defend himself against the lies. He asks God to let the lies defend him. The truth about the liar is always contained in the pattern of their lies. Give them enough time and enough rope, and their own words will testify against them more effectively than any argument you could make.
This requires patience. The enemy's words take time to accumulate, contradict, and collapse. But the prayer is: God, let it happen. Let pride be the trap. Let their mouths produce the evidence. Let the weapon they forged become the chain that binds them.
You don't always need to refute a liar. Sometimes you just need to wait for their lies to catch up with them.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips,.... The words may be read as one proposition, "the words of…
For the sin of their mouth ... - That is, in belching out words of reproach and malice, Psa 59:7. Let them even be taken…
David here encourages himself, in reference to the threatening power of his enemies, with a pious resolution to wait…
The A.V. gives the sense, though the precise construction is doubtful. Perhaps, The word of their lips is the sin of…
Cross References
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