Proverbs 10:19

10:19 When words abound, transgression is inevitable, ¹ 

but the one who restrains ²  his words ³  is wise.

Proverbs 12:13

12:13 The evil person is ensnared ⁴  by the transgression of his speech, ⁵ 

but the righteous person escapes out of trouble. ⁶ 

Proverbs 21:23

21:23 The one who guards his mouth and his tongue ⁷ 

keeps his life ⁸  from troubles. ⁹ 

Psalms 39:1

Psalm 39 ¹⁰ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

39:1 I decided, ¹¹  “I will watch what I say

and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ¹² 

I will put a muzzle over my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man.” ¹³ 

Matthew 12:36-37

12:36 I ¹⁴  tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. 12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 1:26

1:26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

James 3:2-12

3:2 For we all stumble ¹⁵  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹⁶  in what he says, ¹⁷  he is a perfect individual, ¹⁸  able to control the entire body as well. 3:3 And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. ¹⁹  3:4 Look at ships too: Though they are so large and driven by harsh winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination directs. 3:5 So too the tongue is a small part of the body, ²⁰  yet it has great pretensions. ²¹  Think ²²  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ²³  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²⁴  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ²⁵ 

3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature ²⁶  is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. ²⁷  3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ²⁸  evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord ²⁹  and Father, and with it we curse people ³⁰  made in God’s image. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. ³¹  3:11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ³²  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

¹ tn Heb “does not cease.” It is impossible to avoid sinning in an abundance of words – sooner or later one is bound to say something wrong.

² tn Or “holds his lips under control.” The verb חָשַׂךְ (khasakh) means “to withhold; to restrain; to hold in check” (BDB 362 s.v.). The related Arabic term is used in reference to placing a piece of wood in the mouth of a goat to prevent it from sucking (HALOT 359 s.v. חשׂךְ).

³ tn Heb “his lips” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “his tongue.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for speech.

⁴ tc MT reads the noun מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “bait; lure”). The LXX, Syriac and Tg. Prov 12:13 took it as a passive participle (“is ensnared”). The MT is the more difficult reading and so is preferred. The versions appear to be trying to clarify a difficult reading.

⁵ tn Heb “transgression of the lips.” The noun “lips” is a genitive of specification and it functions as a metonymy of cause for speech: sinful talk or sinning by talking. J. H. Greenstone suggests that this refers to litigation; the wicked attempt to involve the innocent (Proverbs, 131).

⁶ sn J. H. Greenstone suggests that when the wicked become involved in contradictions of testimony, the innocent is freed from the trouble. Another meaning would be that the wicked get themselves trapped by what they say, but the righteous avoid that (Proverbs, 131).

⁷ sn “Mouth” and “tongue” are metonymies of cause, signifying what one says (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

⁸ tn This part could also be translated “keeps himself” (so NIV), for נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) often simply means “the whole person.” The participle שֹׁמֵר (shomer) is repeated from the first line in the parallelism – to guard what is said is to guard against difficulty.

⁹ sn The “troubles” (צָרוֹת, tsarot) here could refer to social and legal difficulties into which careless talk might bring someone (e.g., 13:3; 18:21). The word means “a strait, a bind, difficulty.” Careless and free talking could get the person into a tight spot.

¹⁰ sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

¹¹ tn Heb “I said.”

¹² tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

¹³ sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4-6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.

¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁵ tn Or “fail.”

¹⁶ tn Or “fail.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “in speech.”

¹⁸ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

¹⁹ tn Grk “their entire body.”

²⁰ tn Grk “a small member.”

²¹ tn Grk “boasts of great things.”

²² tn Grk “Behold.”

²³ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

²⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²⁵ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

²⁶ tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”

²⁷ tn Grk “the human species.”

²⁸ tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.

²⁹ tc Most later mss (Ï), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (qeon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (̲⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.

³⁰ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.

³¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

³² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.