Taming the Tongue

(A)Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For (B)we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, (C)he is a perfect man, (D)able also to bridle his whole body. If we put (E)bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet (F)it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!

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22 (A)Lying lips are (B)an abomination to the Lord,
    (C)but those who act faithfully are his delight.

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17 (A)Whoever speaks[a] the truth gives honest evidence,
    but (B)a false witness utters deceit.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:17 Hebrew breathes out

11 (A)discretion will (B)watch over you,
    understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
    from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to (C)walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who (D)rejoice in doing evil
    and (E)delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose (F)paths are crooked,
    (G)and who are (H)devious in their ways.

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13 Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
    is (A)a faithful messenger to those who send him;
    he refreshes the soul of his masters.
14 Like (B)clouds and wind without rain
    is a man who (C)boasts of a gift he does not give.

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(A)A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who (B)breathes out lies will not escape.

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(A)A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who (B)breathes out lies will perish.

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23 Whoever (A)rebukes a man will afterward find more favor
    than (B)he who flatters with his tongue.

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22 (A)The words of (B)a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
    they go down into the inner parts of the body.
23 (C)Like the (D)glaze[a] covering an earthen vessel
    are fervent lips with an evil heart.
24 Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips
    and harbors deceit in his heart;
25 (E)when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
    for there are (F)seven abominations in his heart;
26 though his hatred be covered with deception,
    his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:23 By revocalization; Hebrew silver of dross

(A)A man who flatters his neighbor
    spreads (B)a net for his feet.

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19 Truthful lips endure forever,
    but (A)a lying tongue is but for a moment.

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17 (A)Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
    but afterward his mouth will be full of (B)gravel.

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(A)The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
    is a (B)fleeting (C)vapor and a (D)snare of death.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 21:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Latin; most Hebrew manuscripts vapor for those who seek death

(A)A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who (B)breathes out lies will not escape.

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18 A man who (A)bears false witness against his neighbor
    is like a war club, or (B)a sword, or a sharp arrow.

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28 A lying tongue hates its victims,
    and a flattering mouth works ruin.

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(A)A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who (B)breathes out lies will perish.

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28 (A)A false witness will perish,
    but the word of a man who hears will endure.

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Unlawful Sexual Relations

18 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, (A)I am the Lord your God. (B)You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and (C)you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. (D)You shall follow my rules[a] and keep my statutes and walk in them. (E)I am the Lord your God. (F)You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; (G)if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. (H)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. (I)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. (J)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 (K)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 (L)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a (M)rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness (N)while her sister is still alive.

19 (O)“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 (P)And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to (Q)offer them[b] to (R)Molech, and so (S)profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 (T)You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 (U)And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is (V)perversion.

24 (W)“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, (X)for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the (Y)land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land (Z)vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But (AA)you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the (AB)native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 (AC)So keep my charge never to practice (AD)any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: (AE)I am the Lord your God.”

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 18:4 Or my just decrees; also verse 5
  2. Leviticus 18:21 Hebrew to make them pass through [the fire]

(A)A faithful witness does not lie,
    but (B)a false witness breathes out lies.

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17 (A)Whoever speaks[a] the truth gives honest evidence,
    but (B)a false witness utters deceit.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:17 Hebrew breathes out

Practical Warnings

My son, if you have put up (A)security for your neighbor,
    have (B)given your pledge for a stranger,
if you are (C)snared in the words of your mouth,
    caught in the words of your mouth,
then do this, my son, and save yourself,
    for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
    go, hasten,[a] and (D)plead urgently with your neighbor.
(E)Give your eyes no sleep
    and your eyelids no slumber;
save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,[b]
    (F)like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:3 Or humble yourself
  2. Proverbs 6:5 Hebrew lacks of the hunter

25 A truthful witness saves lives,
    but one who (A)breathes out lies is deceitful.

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(A)Better is open rebuke
    than hidden love.
Faithful are (B)the wounds of a friend;
    profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

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14 If a king (A)faithfully judges the poor,
    his throne will (B)be established forever.

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