How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

Graph View — tap the constellation icon in the top bar to see this page's connections as a web of light: gold points are passages, and the coloured threads are the connection types. Click any type in the graph's own legend to filter it in or out, and use the expand control for the full-screen night sky.

New to a term? The Glossary explains every abbreviation and term on the site in plain words.

Intertextuality Pair

Romans 3:13a → Psalm 5:9

Quotation

Later text

Romans 3:13BSB

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

Earlier text

Psalm 5:9BSB

For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.

Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square8:18

Significance

Paul quotes Psalm 5:9 (LXX 5:10) as part of his catena of OT texts in Romans 3:10-18, building a comprehensive indictment of universal human sinfulness. The original psalm is David's morning prayer for protection against his enemies, whose speech is characterized by deceit and destruction — "their throat is an open grave" (taphos aneōgmenos ho larynx autōn). Paul appropriates this description to demonstrate that the corruption of human speech evidences total depravity, a theme that runs from Genesis 3 through the Psalter. Within the catena's structure, this verse addresses the organ of speech (throat/tongue), moving from the general indictment of Psalm 14 (vv. 10-12) to specific bodily manifestations of sin. The LXX text form is followed precisely, confirming Paul's dependence on the Greek Psalter for this composite citation.

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Analogy + Longitudinal Theme

Hermeneutical Notes

NT Use Pattern: Assimilated — Tributary element of the Romans 3:10-18 catena — Psalm 5:9 contributing the indictment of human speech.