Psalms 73:7

According to the Massoretic Text the first line describes the insolent look of these sleek-faced villains. Cp. Job 15:27. But the LXX and Syr. represent a different reading, which suits the probable sense of the next line better, and gets rid of a grammatical anomaly. Render

Their Iniquity cometh forth from the heart:

The imaginations of their mind overflow.

The word for heartis the same as that in Psalms 17:10, which according to Robertson Smith (Religion of the Semites, p. 360) means properly the midriff. The verse is thus a continuation of Psalms 73:6. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh"; and no fear or shame controls their utterance of their thoughts. Cp. Jeremiah 5:28.