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 13:3

13:3 The one who guards his words ⁷  guards his life,

but ⁸  whoever is talkative ⁹  will come to ruin. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 17:27-28

17:27 The truly wise person ¹¹  restrains ¹²  his words,

and the one who stays calm ¹³  is discerning.

17:28 Even a fool who remains silent is considered ¹⁴  wise,

and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 18:21

18:21 Death and life are in the power ¹⁶  of the tongue, ¹⁷ 

and those who love its use ¹⁸  will eat its fruit.

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 3:2-13

3:2 For we all stumble ¹⁹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ²⁰  in what he says, ²¹  he is a perfect individual, ²²  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. ²³  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, ²⁴  yet it has great pretensions. ²⁵  Think ²⁶  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ²⁷  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²⁸  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ²⁹ 

3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature ³⁰  is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. ³¹  3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ³²  evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord ³³  and Father, and with it we curse people ³⁴  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. ³⁵  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, ³⁶  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

True Wisdom

3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. ³⁷ 

[10:19]  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.

[10:19]  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).

[10:19]  ³ tn Heb “his lips” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NIV “his tongue.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for speech.

[12:13]  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.

[12:13]  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).

[12:13]  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).

[13:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “mouth” (so KJV, NAB). The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[13:3]  ⁸ tn The term “but” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[13:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “opens wide his lips.” This is an idiom meaning “to be talkative” (BDB 832 s.v. פָּשַׂק Qal). Cf. NIV “speaks rashly”; TEV “a careless talker”; CEV “talk too much.”

[13:3]  ¹⁰ sn Tight control over what one says prevents trouble (e.g., Prov 10:10; 17:28; Jas 3:1-12; Sir 28:25). Amenemope advises to “sleep a night before speaking” (5:15; ANET 422, n. 10). The old Arab proverb is appropriate: “Take heed that your tongue does not cut your throat” (O. Zockler, Proverbs, 134).

[17:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the one knowing knowledge.” The cognate accusative underscores the meaning of the participle – this is a truly knowledgeable person.

[17:27]  ¹² sn The participle חוֹשֵׂךְ (khosekh) means “withholds; restrains; refrains; spares; holds in check,” etc. One who has knowledge speaks carefully.

[17:27]  ¹³ 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.

[17:28]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect tense here denotes possibility: One who holds his tongue [may be considered] discerning.

[17:28]  ¹⁵ 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.

[18:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the hand of.”

[18:21]  ¹⁷ sn What people say can lead to life or death. The Midrash on Psalms shows one way the tongue [what is said] can cause death: “The evil tongue slays three, the slanderer, the slandered, and the listener” (Midrash Tehillim 52:2). See J. G. Williams, “The Power of Form: A Study of Biblical Proverbs,” Semeia 17 (1980): 35-38.

[18:21]  ¹⁸ tn The referent of “it” must be the tongue, i.e., what the tongue says (= “its use”). So those who enjoy talking, indulging in it, must “eat” its fruit, whether good or bad. The expression “eating the fruit” is an implied comparison; it means accept the consequences of loving to talk (cf. TEV).

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ²¹ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ²² 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).

[3:3]  ²³ tn Grk “their entire body.”

[3:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “a small member.”

[3:5]  ²⁵ tn Grk “boasts of great things.”

[3:5]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Behold.”

[3:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ²⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ²⁹ 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).

[3:7]  ³⁰ tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”

[3:7]  ³¹ tn Grk “the human species.”

[3:8]  ³² 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.

[3:9]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.

[3:10]  ³⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:13]  ³⁷ tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”