The Four Tongues

The Four Tongues

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What we say probably affects more people than any other action we take. It is not surprising, then, to find that the book of Proverbs gives special attention to words and how they are used. Four common speech patterns are described in Proverbs. The first two should be copied and the last two should be avoided.

The Controlled Tongue -- Those who speech pattern think before speaking, know when silence is best, and give wise advice. (10:19, 11:12,12; 12:16; 13:3, 15:1, 4, 28; 16:23; 17:14, 27,28; 21:23 and 24:26)
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The Caring Tongue -- Those with this speech pattern speak truthfully while seeking to encourage. (10:32; 12:18; 25: 15-23; 16:24; 25:15; and 27:9)
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The Conniving Tongue -- Those with this speech pattern are filled with wrong motives, gossip, slander and a desire to twist the truth. (6:12-14; 8:13; 16:29; 18:8; 25:18; and 26:20-28)
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The Careless Tongue -- Those with this speech pattern are filled with lies, curses, quick-tempered words--which can lead to rebellion and destruction. (10:18, 32; 11:9; 12:16, 18; 15:14; 17:9, 14, 19; 20:19; and 25:23)


Take Away Points To Consider

"To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech." (Pr 8:13)

"Never listen to accounts of the frailties of others; and if anyone should complain to you of another, humbly ask him not to speak of him at all." St. John of the Cross

"We should have great peace if we did not busy ourselves with what others say or do." Thomas a Kempis

"Rumor is like a liar, like a snowball that gathers as it goeth." John Trapp

The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of the fool feeds on folly. (Pr 15:14)

"The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them." (Pr 12:6)

"Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts." (Pr 26: 20-22)

"Whispered insinuations are the rhetoric of the devil." Johann Wolfgan von Goethe