Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.
Parallel translations
- WEB Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.
- KJV Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
- NKJV Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you.
- NASB Rid yourself of a deceitful mouth And keep devious speech far from you.
- NLT Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.
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
Put away crooked speech and corrupt lips. Wisdom shows itself in honest, pure words.
Overview
Flowing from the guarded heart (v. 23), wise living requires removing deceitful and perverse speech. Out of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt 12:34), so a renewed heart yields renewed words. The New Testament likewise calls believers to put off corrupt talk and speak what is good and edifying (Eph 4:29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 8:8All the words of my mouth are righteous; none are crooked or perverse.
- Jas 1:26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.
- Prov 8:13To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.
- Eph 4:25–31Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
- Prov 6:12A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,
- 1 Pet 2:1Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
- Jas 1:21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
- Col 3:8But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
- 1 Tim 6:5and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.
- Prov 17:20The one with a perverse heart finds no good, and he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.
- Job 11:14if you put away the iniquity in your hand, and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,
- Ezek 18:31Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?
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 4:24 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.