Proverbs 17:27-28

17:27 The truly wise person ¹  restrains ²  his words,

and the one who stays calm ³  is discerning.

17:28 Even a fool who remains silent is considered ⁴  wise,

and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning. ⁵ 

Psalms 39:1

Psalm 39 ⁶ 

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

39:1 I decided, ⁷  “I will watch what I say

and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ⁸ 

I will put a muzzle over my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man.” ⁹ 

James 1:19

Living Out the Message

1:19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹⁰  Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹¹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹²  in what he says, ¹³  he is a perfect individual, ¹⁴  able to control the entire body as well.

¹ tn Heb “the one knowing knowledge.” The cognate accusative underscores the meaning of the participle – this is a truly knowledgeable person.

² sn The participle חוֹשֵׂךְ (khosekh) means “withholds; restrains; refrains; spares; holds in check,” etc. One who has knowledge speaks carefully.

³ tn Heb “cool of spirit.” This genitive of specification describes one who is “calm” (so NCV, TEV, CEV) or “even-tempered” (so NIV, NLT); he is composed.

⁴ tn The imperfect tense here denotes possibility: One who holds his tongue [may be considered] discerning.

⁵ tn The Niphal participle is used in the declarative/estimative sense with stative verbs: “to be discerning” (Qal) becomes “to be declared discerning” (Niphal). The proverb is teaching that silence is one evidence of wisdom, and that even a fool can thereby appear wise. D. Kidner says that a fool who takes this advice is no longer a complete fool (Proverbs [TOTC], 127). He does not, of course, become wise – he just hides his folly.

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Heb “I said.”

⁸ tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

¹¹ tn Or “fail.”

¹² tn Or “fail.”

¹³ tn Grk “in speech.”

¹⁴ 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).