Ecclesiastes 5:2

5:2 Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God,

for God is in heaven and you are on earth!

Therefore, let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:6

5:6 Do not let your mouth cause you ¹  to sin,

and do not tell the priest, ²  “It was a mistake!” ³ 

Why make God angry at you ⁴ 

so that he would destroy the work of your hands?”

Matthew 5:22

5:22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother ⁵  will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults ⁶  a brother will be brought before ⁷  the council, ⁸  and whoever says ‘Fool’ ⁹  will be sent ¹⁰  to fiery hell. ¹¹ 

Matthew 12:36

12:36 I ¹²  tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak.

James 3:6

3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ¹³  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ¹⁴  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ¹⁵ 

James 3:9-10

3:9 With it we bless the Lord ¹⁶  and Father, and with it we curse people ¹⁷  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. ¹⁸ 

[5:6]  ¹ tn Heb “your flesh.” The term בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., flesh) for the whole (i.e., whole person), e.g., Gen 2:21; 6:12; Ps 56:4[5]; 65:2[3]; 145:21; Isa 40:5, 6; see HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר; E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 642.

[5:6]  ² tc The MT reads הַמַּלְאָךְ (hammal’akh, “messenger”), while the LXX reads τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou, “God”) which reflects an alternate textual tradition of הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim, “God”). The textual problem was caused by orthographic confusion between similarly spelled words. The LXX might have been trying to make sense of a difficult expression. The MT is preferred as the original. All the major translations follow the MT except for Moffatt (“God”).

[5:6]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun שְׁגָגָה (shÿgagah) denotes “error; mistake” and refers to a sin of inadvertence or unintentional sin (e.g., Lev 4:2, 22, 27; 5:18; 22:14; Num 15:24-29; 35:11, 15; Josh 20:3, 9; Eccl 5:5; 10:5); see HALOT 1412 s.v. שְׁגָגָה; BDB 993 s.v. שְׁגָגָה. In this case, it refers to a rash vow thoughtlessly made, which the foolish worshiper claims was a mistake (e.g., Prov 20:25).

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “at your voice.” This is an example of metonymy (i.e., your voice) of association (i.e., you).

[5:22]  ⁵ tc The majority of mss read the word εἰκῇ (eikh, “without cause”) here after “brother.” This insertion has support from א² D L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy co Ir^lat Or^mss Cyp Cyr. Thus the Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine texttypes all include the word, while the best Alexandrian and some other witnesses (Ì⁶⁴ א* B 1424^mg pc aur vg Or Hier^mss) lack it. The ms evidence favors its exclusion, though there is a remote possibility that εἰκῇ could have been accidentally omitted from these witnesses by way of homoioarcton (the next word, ἔνοχος [enocos, “guilty”], begins with the same letter). An intentional change would likely arise from the desire to qualify “angry,” especially in light of the absolute tone of Jesus’ words. While “without cause” makes good practical sense in this context, and must surely be a true interpretation of Jesus’ meaning (cf. Mark 3:5), it does not commend itself as original.

[5:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “whoever says to his brother ‘Raca,’” an Aramaic word of contempt or abuse meaning “fool” or “empty head.”

[5:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

[5:22]  ⁸ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin.”

[5:22]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the term μωρός (mwros) is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, “you fool,” although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term מוֹרֵה (moreh) “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20; cf. BDAG 663 s.v. μωρός c).

[5:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

[5:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”

[12:36]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ¹⁵ 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).

[3:9]  ¹⁶ 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.

[3:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.