JAMES 3:1-12
1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring can yield both salt water and fresh.
JAMES 5:12
12 …my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
DEUTERONOMY 23:21-23
21 “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.
22 “But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.
23 “That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.
ECCLESIASTES 5:1-7
1 Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.
2 Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed–
5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.
PSALM 12:1-6
1 Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?”
5 “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
PSALM 39:1-9
1 I said, “I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me.”
2 I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it.
PSALM 40:9-10
9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly; indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.
PSALM 71:14-18
14 …I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, your power to everyone who is to come.
PSALM 71:23-24
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame who seek my hurt.
PROVERBS 10:19-21, 31-32
19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is worth little.
21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.
31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut out.
32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.
PSALM 50:19
19 You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
PROVERBS 13:3
3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
PROVERBS 14:3
3 In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them.
PROVERBS 25:11-13
11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.
13 Like the cold of snow in time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters.
PROVERBS 21:23
23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
PROVERBS 23:9
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
PROVERBS 24:1-2
1 Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them;
2 For their heart devises violence, and their lips talk of troublemaking.
PSALM 96:2-4
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.
4 For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
PSALM 105:1-5
1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!
3 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
4 Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore!
5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, his wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
PSALM 145:9-13, 21
9 The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, and Your saints shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever and ever.
PROVERBS 8:1-14
1 Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?
2 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet.
3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors:
4 “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart.
6 Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things;
7 For my mouth will speak truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
9 They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;
11 For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:1
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
PROVERBS 25:23
23 The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.
PROVERBS 26:4
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.
PROVERBS 28:23
23 He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue.
PROVERBS 29:20
20 Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
PROVERBS 30:32-33
32 If you have been foolish in exalting yourself, or if you have devised evil, put your hand on your mouth.
33 For as the churning of milk produces butter, and wringing the nose produces blood, so the forcing of wrath produces strife.
ECCLESIASTES 10:12-14
12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;
14 A fool also multiplies words…
LUKE 12:2-3, 8-12
2 “… there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.
3 “Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
8 “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.
9 “But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
10 “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.
11 “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.
12 “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
ROMANS 10:8-10
8 …”The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
EPHESIANS 4:29
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
EPHESIANS 5:3-7, 12
3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
COLOSSIANS 4:6
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
2 TIMOTHY 1:12-14
12 …I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
14 That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
2 TIMOTHY 2:1, 3, 7, 11-12
1 …my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
3 You …must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
7 Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
11 This is a faithful saying: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.
12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, he also will deny us.
2 TIMOTHY 2:16-17
16 …shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
17 And their message will spread like cancer.
JAMES 1:19-20, 26
19 …let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
1 TIMOTHY 6:20-21
20 …Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge–
21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.