What Does Psalm 78:36 Mean in the King James?
Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word translated “flatter” also means “entice,” so the verse reveals praise functioning as a lure, with the tongue exposing its lie.
THE MEANING
This verse names a split that remains present: words can offer devotion while the tongue carries falsehood. Pleasing speech can invite trust without embodying the truth it seems to express.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Reverent-sounding words prove that the speaker is sincere.
THE ROOT
וַיְפַתּוּהוּ
wayfattuhu
GROWS FROM
פתה
Entice, persuade, or allure.
The verb translated “flatter” belongs to a root that also means to entice or persuade. English can make the first clause sound like mere praise; the root reveals speech drawing someone in, while the next clause exposes its falsehood.
ALSO GROWS
peti: A simple or inexperienced person (Proverbs 1:4).
פֶּתִי
The word describes someone susceptible to persuasion, showing how this root connects enticement with being drawn in.
pittitani: “You enticed” or “you persuaded me”; translated “thou hast deceived me” in Jeremiah 20:7.
פִּתִּיתַנִי
This form makes the root’s drawing-in quality explicit and deepens the force of “flatter” in the verse.
יְכַזְּבוּ־לוֹ
yekazzevu-lo
GROWS FROM
כזב
Be false, lie, or fail.
“lied” in this verse is yekazzevu-lo. The same root names spoken falsehood and the failure of waters to flow as expected. Here, the tongue’s lie is speech that fails to hold what its sound of devotion promises.
ALSO GROWS
kazav: A lie or falsehood (Psalm 62:9).
כָּזָב
This noun names falsehood itself, the meaning the verse gives to the tongue’s speech.
yakhzevu: “Fail,” used of waters that do not fail (Isaiah 58:11).
יַכְזְבוּ
The root also describes something that does not hold up or continue, echoing the failure of these words to carry truth.
THE PATTERN
Speech that sounds intimate or peaceable can conceal a false intent.
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.THE THREAD
And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.The Hebrew verb translated “entice” here shares the root פתה (p-t-h) with “flatter” in the Psalm. The shared root reveals persuasion that draws someone in; the Psalm’s next clause names the lie within that drawing.
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