Hold your tongue
Mar 25
Proverbs 10:19 When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.
This theme is echoed multiple times in the Bible. The Bible speaks of being slow to speak, slow to wrath and to hold one’s tongue. There is power in the tongue and there is real power in words. God used words to create and there is power in the word of God.
When we are in conversation with people we need to listen more than we speak. Even when we read the Bible, we need to learn the skill of listening. People are quick to speak and quick to have their say, but this passage says that when words are many, sin is not absent. The use of the double negative is so unusual that it must be deliberate and makes the point more strongly.
But the word goes on to say that he who holds his tongue is wise. The thing about words is that you cannot take them back – once they are out they are out. Say something and you may find you are trying t backtrack and to justify and that you did not mean x,y,z etc.