A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
Parallel translations
- WEB A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit.
- KJV A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
- NKJV A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
- NASB A soothing tongue is a tree of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit.
- NLT Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
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
Gentle, healing speech is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Words give life or do deep harm.
Overview
This proverb pictures wholesome, soothing words as life-giving, like the tree of life, while perverse speech breaks the spirit. It underscores the immense power of the tongue for good or ill. The healing word reflects the ministry of Christ, whose words bring life and restoration to the weary (Matthew 11:28-29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 16:24Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
- Prov 12:18Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Prov 18:8The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.
- Prov 3:18She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- Mal 4:2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
- Prov 18:14The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?
- Rev 2:7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
- Ps 109:22For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
- Ps 52:2–4Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
- Prov 26:22The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.
- 1 Tim 6:3If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,
- Gen 3:22–24Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”
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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 15:4 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.