The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice.
Parallel translations
- KJV The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
- BSB The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
- NKJV The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice.
- NASB The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice.
- NLT The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong.
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
The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom and his tongue justice. Inner godliness overflows in wise, righteous speech.
Overview
David notes that the character of the righteous shows in their words, marked by wisdom and justice. Speech reveals the heart. Such God-shaped speech contrasts with the deceit of the wicked and reflects the renewing work of grace, for out of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), and the redeemed are called to wise, gracious words.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Col 4:6Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
- Prov 25:11–13A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
- Eph 4:29Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
- Prov 15:7The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.
- Matt 12:35The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
- Prov 10:31The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
- Prov 10:21The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.
- Ps 71:15My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.
- Prov 27:9Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.
- Ps 71:24My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me.
- Deut 6:7–9and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 37:30 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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