4:24 Remove perverse speech 1 from your mouth; 2
keep devious talk far from your lips. 3
1 tn Heb “crookedness.” The noun עִקְּשׁוּת (’iqqÿshut) refers to what is morally twisted or perverted. Here it refers to things that are said (cf. NAB “dishonest talk”; NRSV “crooked speech”). The term “mouth” functions as a metonymy of cause for perverse speech. Such perverse talking could be subtle or blatant.
2 tn Heb “crookedness of mouth.”
3 tn Heb “deviousness of lips put far from you.”