Proverbs 13:3 - Exposition

He that keepeth (guardeth) his mouth keepeth his life ( Proverbs 18:21 ; Proverbs 21:23 ; comp. Psalms 39:1 ; James 1:26 ). Thus the gnome—

ἡ γλῶσσα πολλοὺς εἰς ὄλεθρον ἤγαγεν .

"The tongue hath many to destruction led."

And Ecclesiasticus 28:25, "Weigh thy words in a balance, and make a door and bar for thy mouth. Beware thou slide not by it, lest thou fall before him that lieth in wait." But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction ( Proverbs 10:14 ). The Vulgate paraphrases, "He who is inconsiderate in speech shall experience evils;" Septuagint, "will terrify himself"—will occasion to himself many terrible alarms and inflictions. Hence the psalmist prays, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my month; keep the door of my lips." So we have in the Danish, "A silent man's words are not brought into court;" and in the Spanish, "Let not the tongue say what the head shall pay for;" while the Italians tell us, "The sheep that bleats is strangled by the wolf:" and "Silence was never written down" (Kelly). (See on Proverbs 18:6 ; Proverbs 20:19 .)