Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt 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.
- BSB Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.
- 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.
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 in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
- 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 8:13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
- Eph 4:25–31Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
- Prov 6:12A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;
- 1 Pet 2:1Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
- Jas 1:21Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
- Col 3:8but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
- 1 Tim 6:5constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.
- Prov 17:20One who has a perverse heart doesn’t find prosperity, and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble.
- Job 11:14If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don’t let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
- Ezek 18:31Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, 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.