Proverbs 18:21 - Exposition

Death and life are in the power of the tongue; literally, in the hand of the tongue. The tongue, according as it is used, deals forth life or death; for speech is the picture of the mind (comp. Proverbs 12:18 ; Proverbs 26:28 ). The vast importance of our words may be learned from James 3:1-18 .; and our blessed Lord says expressly ( Matthew 12:36 , etc.), "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Hence the gnome—

γλῶσσα τύχη γλῶσσα δαίμων

intimating that the tongue is the real controller of man's destiny; and another—

λόγῳ διοικεῖται βροτῶν βίος μόνῳ

By words alone is life of mortals swayed."

And they that love it (the tongue) shall eat the fruit thereof. They who use it much must abide the consequences of their words, whether by kind and pure and edifying conversation they contribute health and life to themselves and others, or whether by foul, calumnious, corrupting language they involve themselves and others in mortal sin. For "they that love it," the Septuagint has, οἱ κρατοῦντες αὐτῆς , "they who get the mastery over it."