Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
- KJV He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.
- BSB He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.
- NKJV He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
- NASB One who guards his mouth protects his life; One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
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
Guarding your mouth guards your life, but speaking rashly brings ruin. Careful speech protects; careless speech destroys.
Overview
This proverb links the discipline of the tongue directly to one's well-being, warning that unguarded speech invites ruin. Restraint in words is a form of self-preservation and wisdom. The teaching underscores Scripture's repeated emphasis on the power of the tongue and the wisdom of careful, godly speech.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 21:23Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
- Prov 18:21Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
- Prov 18:7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
- Jas 3:2–12For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.
- Ps 39:1For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”
- Matt 12:36–37I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
- Jas 1:26If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
- Prov 20:19He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips.
- Prov 10:19In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely.
- Prov 12:13An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:3 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
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