The Meaning of Romans 3:13 Explained

Romans 3:13

KJV: Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

YLT: A sepulchre opened is their throat; with their tongues they used deceit; poison of asps is under their lips.

Darby: their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; asps' poison is under their lips:

ASV: Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips:

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Their  throat  [is] an open  sepulchre;  with their  tongues  they have used deceit;  the poison  of asps  [is] under  their  lips: 

What does Romans 3:13 Mean?

Context Summary

Romans 3:9-20 - All Justly Under Judgment
A number of quotations are advanced-mostly from the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Testament-establishing the hopeless evil of man's condition. These apply, in the first place, to God's peculiar people, the Jews; but if true of them, how terrible must be the condition of the great heathen world! Every mouth will be stopped and all the world brought in guilty before God, Romans 3:19. Various organs of the body are enumerated, and in each ease some terrible affirmation is made of inbred depravity. What need for salvation! What can atone for such sin, or cleanse such hearts, save the redeeming grace of God?
Law here is obviously employed in the wide sense of conscience as well as Scripture. It is God's ideal held up before our faces, to show us from what we have fallen. The looking-glass is intended, not to wash the face, but to show how much it needs washing. You may commend your soap, and no one will use it; but if you reveal the discoloring filth, people will be only too glad to avail themselves of the cleansing power which otherwise they would neglect and despise. The way to fill the inquiry room is to hold up the divine standard before men's consciences. [source]

Chapter Summary: Romans 3

1  The Jews prerogative;
3  which they have not lost;
9  howbeit the law convinces them also of sin;
20  therefore no one is justified by the law;
28  but all, without difference, by faith, only;
31  and yet the law is not abolished

Greek Commentary for Romans 3:13

Throat [λαρυγχ]
Old word, larynx. [source]
Open sepulchre [ταπος ανεωιγμενος]
Perfect passive participle of ανοιγω — anoigō “an opened grave.” Their mouth (words) like the odour of a newly opened grave. “Some portions of Greek and Roman literature stink like a newly opened grave” (Shedd). They have used deceit (εδολιουσαν — edoliousan). Imperfect (not perfect or aorist as the English implies) active of δολιοω — dolioō only in lxx and here in the N.T. from the common adjective δολιος — dolios deceitful (2 Corinthians 11:13). The regular form would be εδολιουν — edolioun The οσαν — ̇osan ending for third plural in imperfect and aorist was once thought to be purely Alexandrian because so common in the lxx, but it is common in the Boeotian and Aeolic dialects and occurs in ειχοσαν — eichosan in the N.T. (John 15:22, John 15:24). “They smoothed their tongues” in the Hebrew. Poison Old word both for rust (James 5:3) and poison (James 3:8). Of asps (ασπιδων — aspidōn). Common word for round bowl, shield, then the Egyptian cobra (a deadly serpent). Often in lxx. Only here in the N.T. The poison of the asp lies in a bag under the lips (χειλη — cheilē), often in lxx, only here in N.T. Genitive case after γεμει — gemei (is full). [source]
They have used deceit [εδολιουσαν]
Imperfect (not perfect or aorist as the English implies) active of δολιοω — dolioō only in lxx and here in the N.T. from the common adjective δολιος — dolios deceitful (2 Corinthians 11:13). The regular form would be εδολιουν — edolioun The οσαν — ̇osan ending for third plural in imperfect and aorist was once thought to be purely Alexandrian because so common in the lxx, but it is common in the Boeotian and Aeolic dialects and occurs in ειχοσαν — eichosan in the N.T. (John 15:22, John 15:24). “They smoothed their tongues” in the Hebrew. [source]
Poison [ιος]
Old word both for rust (James 5:3) and poison (James 3:8). Of asps (ασπιδων — aspidōn). Common word for round bowl, shield, then the Egyptian cobra (a deadly serpent). Often in lxx. Only here in the N.T. The poison of the asp lies in a bag under the lips (χειλη — cheilē), often in lxx, only here in N.T. Genitive case after γεμει — gemei (is full). [source]
Of asps [ασπιδων]
Common word for round bowl, shield, then the Egyptian cobra (a deadly serpent). Often in lxx. Only here in the N.T. The poison of the asp lies in a bag under the lips (χειλη — cheilē), often in lxx, only here in N.T. Genitive case after γεμει — gemei (is full). [source]
Open sepulchre [τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος]
Lit., a sepulchre opened or standing open. Some explain the figure by the noisome exhalations from a tomb. Others refer it to a pit standing open and ready to devour, comparing Jeremiah 5:16, where the quiver of the Chaldaeans is called an open sepulchre. So Meyer and Morison. Godet compares the phrase used of a brutal man: “it seems as if he would like to eat you.” Compare Dante's vision of the lion:“With head uplifted and with ravenous hunger,So that it seemed the air was afraid of him.”“Inferno,” i., 47. [source]
Have used deceit [εδολιουσαν]
Hebrew, they smoothed their tongues. Guile is contrasted with violence in the previous clause. Wyc., with their tongues they did guilingly. The imperfect tense denotes perseverance in their hypocritical professions. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Romans 3:13

Romans 3:10 As it is written [κατως γεγραπται οτι]
Usual formula of quotation as in Romans 3:4 with recitative οτι — hoti added as in Romans 3:8. Paul here uses a catena or chain of quotations to prove his point in Romans 3:9 that Jews are in no better fix than the Greeks for all are under sin. Dr. J. Rendel Harris has shown that the Jews and early Christians had Testimonia (quotations from the Old Testament) strung together for certain purposes as proof-texts. Paul may have used one of them or he may have put these passages together himself. Romans 3:10-12 come from Psalm 14:1-3; first half of Romans 3:13 as far as εδολιουσαν — edoliousan from Psalms 4:9, the second half from Psalm 140:3; Romans 3:14 from Psalm 10:7; Romans 3:15-17 from an abridgment of Isaiah 59:7.; Romans 3:18 from Psalm 35:1. Paul has given compounded quotations elsewhere (2 Corinthians 6:16; Romans 9:25.,27f; Romans 11:26.,34f.; Romans 12:19.). Curiously enough this compounded quotation was imported bodily into the text (lxx) of Psalms 14 after Romans 3:4 in Aleph B, etc. [source]
James 3:8 Poison [ἰοῦ]
Rendered rust at James 5:3; and found only in these two passages and in Romans 3:13, in the citation of Psalm 140:3. [source]
James 3:8 A restless evil [ακαταστατον κακον]
Correct reading, not ακατασχετον — akatascheton for which see note on James 1:8. The tongue is evil when set on fire by hell, not evil necessarily.Full of deadly poison (μεστη ιου τανατηπορου — mestē iou thanatēphorou). Feminine adjective agreeing with γλωσσα — glōssa not with κακον — kakon (neuter). Ιου — Iou (poison here, as in Romans 3:13, but rust in James 5:3, only N.T. examples), old word. Genitive case after μεστη — mestē (full of). Τανατηπορου — Thanatēphorou old compound adjective (from τανατος — thanatos death, περω — pherō to bear or bring), death-bringing. Here only in N.T. Like the restless death-bringing tongue of the asp before it strikes. [source]
James 3:8 Full of deadly poison [μεστη ιου τανατηπορου]
Feminine adjective agreeing with γλωσσα — glōssa not with κακον — kakon (neuter). Ιου — Iou (poison here, as in Romans 3:13, but rust in James 5:3, only N.T. examples), old word. Genitive case after μεστη — mestē (full of). Τανατηπορου — Thanatēphorou old compound adjective (from τανατος — thanatos death, περω — pherō to bear or bring), death-bringing. Here only in N.T. Like the restless death-bringing tongue of the asp before it strikes. [source]
James 5:3 Rust [ιος]
Poison in James 3:8; Romans 3:13 (only N.T. examples of old word). Silver does corrode and gold will tarnish. Dioscorides (V.91) tells about gold being rusted by chemicals. Modern chemists can even transmute metals as the alchemists claimed.For a testimony (εις μαρτυριον — eis marturion). Common idiom as in Matthew 8:4 (use of εις — eis with accusative in predicate).Against you Dative of disadvantage as in Mark 6:11 Future middle (late form from επαγον — ephagon) of defective verb εστιω — esthiō to eat.Your flesh The plural is used for the fleshy parts of the body like pieces of flesh (Revelation 17:16; Revelation 19:18, Revelation 19:21). Rust eats like a canker, like cancer in the body.As fire (ως πυρ — hōs pur). Editors differ here whether to connect this phrase with παγεται — phagetai just before (as Mayor), for fire eats up more rapidly than rust, or with the following, as Westcott and Hort and Ropes, that is the eternal fire of Gehenna which awaits them (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:44). This interpretation makes a more vivid picture for ετησαυρισατε — ethēsaurisate (ye have laid up, first aorist active indicative of τησαυριζω — thēsaurizō Matthew 6:19 and see Proverbs 16:27), but it is more natural to take it with παγεται — phagetai f0). [source]

What do the individual words in Romans 3:13 mean?

A grave having been opened the throat of them [is] with the tongues of them they keep practicing deceit [the] venom of vipers [is] under the lips
τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος λάρυγξ αὐτῶν ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη

τάφος  A  grave 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: τάφος  
Sense: burial.
ἀνεῳγμένος  having  been  opened 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀνοίγω 
Sense: to open.
λάρυγξ  throat 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: λάρυγξ  
Sense: the throat.
αὐτῶν  of  them  [is] 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ταῖς  with  the 
Parse: Article, Dative Feminine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
γλώσσαις  tongues 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Plural
Root: γλῶσσα  
Sense: the tongue, a member of the body, an organ of speech. 2 a tongue.
αὐτῶν  of  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ἐδολιοῦσαν  they  keep  practicing  deceit 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: δολιόω  
Sense: to deceive, use deceit.
ἰὸς  [the]  venom 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἰός  
Sense: poison (of animals).
ἀσπίδων  of  vipers 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Plural
Root: ἀσπίς  
Sense: an asp, a small and most venomous serpent, the bite of which is fatal unless the bitten part be immediately cut away.
ὑπὸ  [is]  under 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ὑπό  
Sense: by, under.
χείλη  lips 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: χεῖλος  
Sense: a lip, of the speaking mouth.