Words and speech

¹⁹ My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

²⁰ for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

² But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

³ God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger against him subsided.

Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.

⁹ Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,

¹⁰ lest the one who hears may disgrace you, and your infamy never go away.

¹¹ A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

¹² Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.

⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

¹⁰ For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

² Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.

³ As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.

⁴ When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.

⁵ It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

⁶ Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

⁷ For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

¹² The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.

¹³ The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness.

¹⁴ Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what is coming, and who can tell him what will come after him?

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

² We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can guide the whole animal.

⁴ Consider ships as well. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot is inclined.

⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.

⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.

Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.

¹² You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

¹³ You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.

¹⁴ You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

¹⁵ You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

¹⁶ You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.

³⁴ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;

³⁵ or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

³⁶ Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.

³⁷ Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.

³³ Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

³⁵ The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.

³⁶ But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.

¹⁸ The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁹ When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

²⁰ The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked has little worth.

²¹ The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment.

⁹ With his mouth the ungodly man destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued.

¹⁰ When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

¹¹ By the blessing of the upright a city is built up, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

¹² Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks judgment, but a man of understanding remains silent.

¹³ A gossip reveals a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

² From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things, but the desire of the faithless is violence.

³ He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders.

“See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”

¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

¹³ when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

Some have strayed from these ways and turned aside to empty talk.

³ Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”

⁴ And he would add, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land, then everyone with a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would give him justice.”

⁵ Also, when anyone approached to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him.

So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do.

“Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.

⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

⁴² the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave and go elsewhere, know for sure that you will die’? And you told me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will comply.’

¹³ And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders

¹⁴ and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”

But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am unskilled in speech?”

¹⁸ For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.

¹⁹ Behold, my belly is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like a new wineskin.

²⁰ I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and respond.

Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said.

These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

⁶ On Herod’s birthday, however, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod

⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.

But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Build cities for your little ones and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”

Now listen to them, but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.”

And Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys had been found.” But Saul did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.