How harmful can words be? (Psalm 64:3-6)
(Psa. 64:3-6)
3 who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless,
shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, “Who can see them?”
6 They search out injustice,
saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”
For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
Psalms 64:1 - 10
NKJV - 1 Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, From the rebellion of the workers of iniquity.
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Asked September 17 2026
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Anonymous
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Danny Hickman
Words? Here are examples:
Guilty! / Not guilty! / The DNA shows that you are NOT the father!!
These are harmless unless they are misapplied. The innocent hears a guilty verdict, the guilty can go free, and a dad can lose parental rights and custody, all because of the power of a few words.
Joseph, Jacob's favorite son was accused of sexual assault and thrown in prison by his master, when his master's wife lied on him (Genesis 39).
Here it is: "The Hebrew servant you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside." So it was when his master HEARD THE WORDS which his wife spoke to him, saying, "Your servant did to me after this manner," that his anger was aroused. (vss 17-19) emphasis mine.
What were the words that enraged him? "Your servant." "You brought him here." She was saying to her husband, 'This is all your fault! Because of you I almost got raped!' It was all a lie!
Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. (Psalm 120:2)
The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness (James 3:6).
Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you (Proverbs 4:24).
An ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire. A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends (Proverbs 16:27, 28).
Jack Gutknecht
Danny, I appreciate your examples. I really do! They show how much weight words can carry, and how quickly a lie can wreck a life, as with Joseph. I agree that misapplied words are devastating.
I would only nuance the phrase “harmless unless misapplied.” Psalm 64 doesn’t really present words as neutral tools that become dangerous only when used wrongly. It presents the wicked as actively weaponizing speech: tongues like swords, bitter words like arrows, ambush, secrecy, “Who can see them?” The harm comes from the heart’s evil purpose. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45), and James says the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness (James 3:6). No human can tame it (James 3:8). We need God’s transforming work.
Your response is also telling. He doesn’t answer sword-like tongues with his own; he asks God to hear, hide, and preserve him (Ps. 64:1-2). Then he trusts God to turn their own arrows back on them (Ps. 64:7-8). The righteous don’t ultimately escape by winning the verbal battle but by taking refuge in the Lord (Ps. 64:10). So yes, words can be terribly harmful, and they can also heal. May our speech be guarded by the One who sees what is hidden.