²⁰ Choice silver is a tongue of righteousness,
    a heart^[a] of wickedness is of little worth.^[b]
21 Lips of righteousness feed many,
    but fools die for lack of sense.^[c]

³¹ The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
    but a tongue of perversity will be cut off.
³² The lips of the righteous know the acceptable,
    but the mouth of the wicked, the perverse.

¹¹ By the blessing of the upright, a city will be exalted,
    but by the mouth of the wicked, it will be overthrown.

¹³ By the transgression of lips, evil is ensnared,
    but the righteous escapes from trouble.
¹⁴ From the fruit of the mouth of a man, he is filled with good,
    and the reward of a man’s labor^[a] will return to him.

² From the fruit of the mouth of a man, he shall eat what is good,
    but the desire^[a] of the treacherous, wrongdoing.

²⁸ A heart^[a] of righteousness will ponder the answer,
    but a mouth of wickedness will pour out deceit.

⁴ He who does evil listens to lips of wickedness,
    and the liar gives heed to the tongue of mischief.