Good News Translation sacrifices the chiastic pattern of lips–tongue, tongue–lips and produces “tongue–mouths,” “words–say.” The translator should in no case attempt to retain a poetic device, such as chiasmus, at the expense of a clear rendering of the meaning.

With vivid language the psalmist asks Yahweh to stop all lying and boasting. Cut off is not meant literally but means to put a stop to, perhaps by banishment or by death. The term used for “Silence” or cut off depends on the nature of the expression used for “flatter.” In some languages this will be “close the mouths of those who speak flattering words” or “stop those who flatter others.”

All … lips and the tongue stand for people who flatter (same word as in verse 2) and who boast (literally “saying great things”) that with their words they are able to get their way. In some languages it is not possible to speak of a part of the person as representing the whole person, and one must say, for example, “silence people who…” or “stop people who….”

The first line in verse 4 is “we will win with our tongue”; the verb means to prevail, succeed. See New American Bible “We are heroes with our tongues”; New Jerusalem Bible “In our tongue lies our strength”; Bible en français courant “We know what to say in order to succeed.” With our tongue refers to clever talk used to obtain evil ends, and may be expressed “by speaking clever words we get what we want.”

The second statement is our lips are with us, meaning that their words are at their command, to help them get what they want; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “our tongue defends us.”

The third statement, who is our master? is a rhetorical question which in the context means that no one can prevail against them; they can do whatever they want, so powerful are their words. This question may be better represented by a strong affirmation, “No one can tell us what to do” or “We do not have to obey anyone.”

New Jerusalem Bible joins the last two statements: “with lips such as ours, who can be our master?” In some languages it will be advisable to abandon the literal tongue … lips, and to use “words, speech, talking,” or the equivalent, in order to avoid what may appear to be incongruous or slightly ridiculous.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .