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who whet their tongues like swords,
    who aim bitter words like arrows,(A)

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And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.[a](A) For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless[b] evil, full of deadly poison.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 3.6 Gk Gehenna
  2. 3.8 Other ancient authorities read uncontrollable

18 Rash words are like sword thrusts,
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.(A)

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Let them vanish like water that runs away;
    like grass let them be trodden down[a] and wither.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 58.7 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain

I lie down among lions
    that greedily devour[a] human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
    their tongues sharp swords.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 57.4 Cn: Heb are aflame for

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)

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17     No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,
    and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
    and their vindication from me, says the Lord.(A)

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for look, the wicked bend the bow,
    they have fitted their arrow to the string,
    to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.(A)

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14 there are those whose teeth are swords,
    whose teeth are knives
to devour the poor from off the earth,
    the needy from among mortals.(A)

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