The Meaning of Psalms 144:8 Explained

Psalms 144:8

KJV: Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

YLT: Because their mouth hath spoken vanity, And their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Darby: Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

ASV: Whose mouth speaketh deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Whose mouth  speaketh  vanity,  and their right hand  [is] a right hand  of falsehood. 

What does Psalms 144:8 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 144:1-15 - God's People Are Happy
This psalm savors of the rocky caverns from which David and his men emerged to fight. Each day the chieftain asked God to teach him to fight, and realized that all his need would be met. The names he gives to God indicate that all-sidedness which becomes the complement of every conceivable necessity on our part.
What a striking conception opens in Psalms 144:4! Saul was but a "breath"! r.v., margin. The persecuting bands were as the shadows that pass across the hills! From them all he appealed to God to bow the heavens and come, to touch the mountains, and to rescue him from the rising waters. And when the storm has passed he sings his new glad song, Psalms 144:9. Psalms 144:12-15 were probably added at a later time, when David was established in his kingdom. They describe a summer afternoon of prosperity, when sons have grown from plants to trees, and daughters resemble the carved figures which support the beams of a palace. No breaking in of the foe, no need to go forth to fight, no outcry of oppression or want; but the halcyon sunset of a well-spent life. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 144

1  David blesses God for his mercy both to him and to man
5  He prays that God would powerfully deliver him from his enemies
9  He promises to praise God
11  He prays for the happy state of the kingdom

What do the individual words in Psalms 144:8 mean?

Whose mouth speaks vain [words] and whose right hand [is] a right hand of falsehood
אֲשֶׁ֣ר פִּ֭יהֶם דִּבֶּר־ שָׁ֑וְא וִֽ֝ימִינָ֗ם יְמִ֣ין שָֽׁקֶר

אֲשֶׁ֣ר  Whose 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
פִּ֭יהֶם  mouth 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: פֶּה  
Sense: mouth.
דִּבֶּר־  speaks 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
שָׁ֑וְא  vain  [words] 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: שָׁוְא  
Sense: emptiness, vanity, falsehood.
וִֽ֝ימִינָ֗ם  and  whose  right  hand  [is] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: יָמִין  
Sense: right, right hand, right side.
יְמִ֣ין  a  right  hand 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: יָמִין  
Sense: right, right hand, right side.
שָֽׁקֶר  of  falsehood 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: שֶׁקֶר  
Sense: lie, deception, disappointment, falsehood.