Psalms 78:36

Good News Translation

But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But they deceived him with their mouths,they lied to him with their tongues,

Hebrew Names Version
But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.

King James Version
Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.

English Standard Version
But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.

New Century Version
But their words were false, and their tongues lied to him.

New English Translation
But they deceived him with their words, and lied to him.

Amplified Bible
Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths And lied to Him with their tongues.

New American Standard Bible
But they flattered Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue.

World English Bible
But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But they flattered him with their mouth, and dissembled with him with their tongue.

Legacy Standard Bible
But they deceived Him with their mouthAnd lied to Him with their tongue.

Berean Standard Bible
But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.

Contemporary English Version
But they tried to flatter God, and they told him lies;

Complete Jewish Bible
But they tried to deceive him with their words, they lied to him with their tongues;

Darby Translation
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue;

Easy-to-Read Version
But they tried to fool him with their words; they told him lies.

George Lamsa Translation
Nevertheless they loved him with their mouths, and they lied to him with their tongues.

Lexham English Bible
But they enticed him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongue.

Literal Translation
But they flattered Him with their mouths, and with their tongues lied to Him.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Neuerthelesse, they dyd but flater him in their mouthes, and dissembled with him in their tonges.

American Standard Version
But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue.

Bible in Basic English
But their lips were false to him, and their tongues were untrue to him;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But they beguiled Him with their mouth, and lied unto Him with their tongue.

King James Version (1611)
Neuerthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth: and they lyed vnto him with their tongues.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For their heart was not vpright with him: neither continued they faythfull in his couenaunt.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Yet they loved him only with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

English Revised Version
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei loueden hym in her mouth; and with her tunge thei lieden to hym.

Update Bible Version
But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue.

Webster's Bible Translation
Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues.

New King James Version
Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, And they lied to Him with their tongue;

New Living Translation
But all they gave him was lip service; they lied to him with their tongues.

New Life Bible
But they gave Him false honor with their mouth. They lied to Him with their tongue.

New Revised Standard
But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So they spake him fair with their mouth, And, with their tongue, did promise him falsely;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(77-36) And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him:

Revised Standard Version
But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.

Young's Literal Translation
And -- they deceive Him with their mouth, And with their tongue do lie to Him,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue.

Contextual Overview

⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows, ran away on the day of battle. ¹⁰ They did not keep their covenant with God; they refused to obey his law. ¹¹ They forgot what he had done, the miracles they had seen him perform. ¹² While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt. ¹³ He divided the sea and took them through it; he made the waters stand like walls. ¹⁴ By day he led them with a cloud and all night long with the light of a fire. ¹⁵ He split rocks open in the desert and gave them water from the depths. ¹⁶ He caused a stream to come out of the rock and made water flow like a river. ¹⁷ But they continued to sin against God, and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High. ¹⁸ They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Nevertheless: Psalms 106:12, Psalms 106:13, Deuteronomy 5:28, Deuteronomy 5:29, Isaiah 29:13, Ezekiel 33:31, Hosea 11:12

lied: Psalms 18:44, *marg.

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 24:2 - Joash Psalms 33:1 - praise Psalms 50:16 - thou shouldest Psalms 66:3 - submit themselves Psalms 119:118 - their deceit Isaiah 59:13 - lying Isaiah 63:8 - children Jeremiah 3:10 - Judah Acts 8:21 - for

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth,.... In prayer to him, they only drew nigh to him with their mouths, and honoured him with their lips; they showed much love to him and his ways and ordinances hereby; but their hearts were not with him, but after their lusts; they made fine speeches and fair promises, but their hearts and mouths did not agree; they spoke with a double heart, thinking and endeavouring to "deceive" the Lord, as the word b here used signifies; but he is not to be deceived, nor will he be mocked; the Targum is,

"they allured (or persuaded) him, with their mouth;''

they attempted to do so; the Syriac and Arabic versions are, "they loved him with their mouth"; professed great love and sincere affection to him, when they had none:

and they lied unto him with their tongues; to lie unto men is bad, but to God is worse; and it is a most vain and foolish thing, since there is not a word in the tongue of any but is known to him.

b ויפתוהו "quamvis conarentur eum decipere", Junius Tremellius "attamen decipiebant eum", Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth - The word rendered “flatter” means properly “to open;” and hence, “to be open; to be ingenious or frank;” and then, to be easily persuaded, to be deluded, to be beguiled; and hence, also, in an active form, to persuade, to entice, to seduce, to beguile, to delude. The meaning here is, that they attempted to deceive by their professions, or that their professions were false and hollow. Those professions were the mere result of affliction. They were based on no principle; there was no true love or confidence at the foundation. Such professions or promises are often made in affliction. Under the pressure of heavy judgments, the loss of property, the loss of friends, or the failure of health, people become serious, and resolve to give attention to religion. It is rarely that such purposes are founded in sincerity, and that the conversions apparently resulting from them are true conversions. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render the phrase here, “They loved with their mouth.”

And they lied unto him with their tongues - They made promises which they did not keep.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 78:36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth — What idea could such people have of God, whom they supposed they could thus deceive? They promised well, they called him their God, and their fathers' God; and told him how good, and kind, and merciful he had been to them. Thus, their mouth flattered him. And they said that, whatever the Lord their God commanded them to do, they would perform.

And they lied unto him. — I think the Vulgate gives the true sense of the Hebrew: Dilexerunt eum in ore suo; et lingua sua mentiti sunt ei, - "They loved him with their mouth; and they lied unto him with their tongue." "That is," says the old Psalter, "thai sayde thai lufed God, bot thai lighed, als thair dedes schewes; for thai do noght als thai hight; for when God ceses to make men rad; than cese thai to do wele."