James 3:5
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5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire!(A)
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Proverbs 18:21
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21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.(A)
Jeremiah 9:3-8
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3 They bend their tongues like bows;
they have grown strong in the land for falsehood and not for truth,
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know me, says the Lord.(A)
4 Beware of your neighbors,
and put no trust in any of your kin,
for all your kin are supplanters,
and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.(B)
5 They all deceive their neighbors,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.[a](C)
6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit[b] upon deceit!
They refuse to know me, says the Lord.(D)
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
I will now refine and test them,
for what else can I do with the daughter of my people?(E)
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceit through the mouth.
They all speak friendly words to their neighbors
but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.(F)
Proverbs 12:18
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18 Rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.(A)
Proverbs 15:2
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2 The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out folly.(A)
Psalm 17:10
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10 They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.(A)
Psalm 73:8-9
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8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.(A)
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.
Psalm 12:2-4
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2 They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a deceitful heart they speak.(A)
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,(B)
4 those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own—who is our master?”
Psalm 52:1-2
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Psalm 52
Judgment on the Deceitful
To the leader. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
1 Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?[a]
All day long(A) 2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.(B)
Footnotes
- 52.1 Cn Compare Syr: Heb the kindness of God
Psalm 10:3
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3 For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart;
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.(A)
Jeremiah 18:18
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A Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us bring charges against him,[a] and let us not heed any of his words.”(A)
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- 18.18 Heb strike him with the tongue
Jude 16
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16 These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their lusts;[a] their mouths utter bombastic nonsense, flattering people to their own advantage.(A)
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- 16 Other ancient authorities read their own lusts
Ezekiel 28:2
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2 Mortal, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God:
Because your heart is proud
and you have said, “I am a god;
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,”
yet you are but a mortal and no god,
though you compare your mind
with the mind of a god.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.