Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Parallel translations
- WEB There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.
- KJV There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
- NKJV There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.
- NASB There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- NLT Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Our words can wound deeply or bring real healing.
Overview
The proverb vividly contrasts rash, cutting speech with the healing power of wise words. It reminds us that the tongue can inflict deep injury or restore. Believers are called to use words that build up and heal, in keeping with the grace that has healed them in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Prov 16:24Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
- Prov 15:4A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
- Ps 57:4My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts—with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Prov 10:20–21The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked has little worth.
- Ps 52:2Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
- Jas 3:6–8The 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.
- Prov 15:7The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
- Dan 11:33Those with insight will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by sword or flame, or be captured or plundered.
- Prov 25:18Like a club or sword or sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.
- Prov 13:17A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing.
- Prov 4:22For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
- Ps 64:3who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,
- Rev 1:16He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
- Ps 59:7See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”
- Rev 22:2down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 12:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.