'Tongue' in the Bible
Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I am not a man of words (eloquent, fluent), neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
But not even a dog will threaten any of the Israelites, whether man or animal, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’
all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. No one uttered a [threatening] word against any of the sons of Israel.
So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels down to drink.”
“The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,And His word was on my tongue.
for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed and wiped out of existence. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for our hardship would not be sufficient to burden the king [by even mentioning it].”
“You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,And you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
“Is there injustice or malice on my tongue?Can my palate not discern what is destructive?
“For your guilt teaches your mouth,And you choose [to speak] the language of the crafty and cunning.
“Though evil and wickedness are sweet in his mouthAnd he hides it under his tongue,
“He sucks the poison of vipers [which ill-gotten wealth contains];The viper’s tongue slays him.
My lips will not speak unjustly,Nor will my tongue utter deceit.
“Behold, I have opened my mouth [to begin my speech];My tongue in my mouth is going to speak.
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?Or press down his tongue with a cord?
For there is nothing trustworthy or reliable or truthful in what they say;Their heart is destruction [just a treacherous chasm, a yawning gulf of lies].Their throat is an open grave;They [glibly] flatter with their [silken] tongue.
His mouth is full of curses and deceit (fraud) and oppression;Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness [injustice and sin].
He does not slander with his tongue,Nor does evil to his neighbor,Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;And You have laid me in the dust of death.
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Keep your tongue from evilAnd your lips from speaking deceit.
And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness (justice),And Your praise all the day long.
The mouth of the righteous proclaims wisdom,And his tongue speaks justice and truth.
I said, “I will guard my waysThat I may not sin with my tongue;I will muzzle my mouthWhile the wicked are in my presence.”
My heart was hot within me.While I was musing the fire burned;Then I spoke with my tongue:
My heart overflows with a good theme;I address my psalm to the King.My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.
“You give your mouth to evilAnd your tongue frames deceit.
Rescue me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;Then my tongue will sing joyfully of Your righteousness and Your justice.
Your tongue devises destruction,Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
I cried aloud to Him;He was highly praised with my tongue.
My tongue also will speak of Your righteousness all day long;For they are ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek my injury.
Let my tongue sing [praise for the fulfillment] of Your word,For all Your commandments are righteous.
What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you,You deceitful tongue?—
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouthIf I do not remember you,If I do not prefer JerusalemAbove my chief joy.
Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken],Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
“Do not let a slanderer be established in the earth;Let evil quickly hunt the violent man [to overthrow him and stop his evil acts].”
A proud look [the attitude that makes one overestimate oneself and discount others], a lying tongue,And hands that shed innocent blood,
To keep you from the evil woman,From [the flattery of] the smooth tongue of an immoral woman.
The mouth of the righteous flows with [skillful and godly] wisdom,But the perverted tongue will be cut out.
There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword,But the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Truthful lips will be established forever,But a lying tongue is [credited] only for a moment.
The tongue of the wise speaks knowledge that is pleasing and acceptable,But the [babbling] mouth of fools spouts folly.
A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life,But a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit.
The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man,But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
An evildoer listens closely to wicked lips;And a liar pays attention to a destructive and malicious tongue.
He who has a crooked mind finds no good,And he who is perverted in his language falls into evil.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.
Acquiring treasures by a lying tongueIs a fleeting vapor, the seeking and pursuit of death.
He who guards his mouth and his tongueGuards himself from troubles.
The north wind brings forth rain;And a backbiting tongue, an angry countenance.
A lying tongue hates those it wounds and crushes,And a flattering mouth works ruin.
He who [appropriately] reprimands a [wise] man will afterward find more favorThan he who flatters with the tongue.
She opens her mouth in [skillful and godly] wisdom,And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue [giving counsel and instruction].
“Your lips, my [promised] bride, drip honey [as the honeycomb];Honey and milk are under your tongue,And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]And the dry grass collapses into the flame,So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hostsAnd despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
And the Lord will utterly destroyThe tongue of the Sea of Egypt;And with His scorching windHe will wave His hand over the River;He will strike and divide it into seven channelsAnd make [it possible for] people [to] walk over in sandals.
Indeed, the Lord will teach this people [in a more humiliating way]By [men with] stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
Now look, the name of the Lord comes from far away,Burning with His anger, and heavy with smoke;His lips are full of indignation,And His tongue is like a consuming fire.
The heart (mind) of those who act impulsively will discern the truth,And the tongue of the stammerers will hurry to speak clearly.
You will no longer see the fierce and insolent people,A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends,Of a strange and stammering tongue which no one understands.
Then the lame will leap like a deer,And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.For waters will break forth in the wildernessAnd streams in the desert.
“I have sworn [an oath] by Myself,The word is gone out of My mouth in righteousnessAnd shall not return,That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].
The Lord God has given Me [His Servant] the tongue of disciples [as One who is taught],That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.He awakens Me morning by morning,He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught].
“No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn.This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,And this is their vindication from Me,” says the Lord.
“Of whom do you make fun?Against whom do you open wide your mouthAnd stick out your tongue?Are you not children of rebellion (sin),Offspring of deceit,
For your hands are defiled with bloodAnd your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing];Your lips have spoken lies,Your tongue mutters wickedness.
“They bend their tongue like their bow;[Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land;For they proceed from evil to evil,And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me,” says the Lord.
“Their tongue is a murderous arrow;It speaks deceit;With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,But in his heart he lays traps and waits in ambush for him.
Then [my enemies] said, “Come and let us work out schemes against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest [as Jeremiah predicts], nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with our tongue [by making charges against him before the king], and let us ignore anything he says.”
The tongue of the infant clingsTo the roof of its mouth because of thirst;The little ones ask for food,But no one gives it to them.
And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you cannot talk and you cannot be a man who rebukes the people, for they are a rebellious house.
They turn, but they do not turn upward to the Most High.They are like a poorly crafted bow [that misses the mark];Their princes shall fall by the swordBecause of the insolence of their tongue.This will be cause for their mockery and disdain in the land of Egypt.
Then one’s uncle, or his undertaker, shall come to bring the [disease-infected] body out of the house, [to cremate it], and he will say to another in the farthest part of the house, “Is there anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will respond, “Hush! Keep quiet! For the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned [even casually, for fear that we might invoke even more punishment].”
“The remnant of Israel will do no wrongNor speak lies,Nor will a deceitful tongueBe found in their mouths;For they will eat and lie downWith no one to make them tremble and feel afraid.”
Now this will be the plague with which the Lord shall strike all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.
Jesus, taking him aside by himself, away from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, He touched the man’s tongue [with the saliva];
And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he began speaking plainly.
At once Zacharias’ mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began speaking, praising and blessing and thanking God.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’
And they were all filled [that is, diffused throughout their being] with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (different languages), as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out [clearly and appropriately].
‘Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue exulted exceedingly;Moreover my flesh also will live in hope [that is, will encamp in anticipation of the resurrection];
When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet. And he continued,
And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice in the Hebrew dialect (Jewish Aramaic) saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick [repeatedly] against the goads [offering pointless resistance].’
For it is written [in Scripture],“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,And every tongue shall give praise to God.”
But actually, I have written to you not to associate with any so-called [Christian] brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater [devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a reviler [who insults or slanders or otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a drunkard or a swindler—you must not so much as eat with such a person.
For one who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to people but to God; for no one understands him or catches his meaning, but by the Spirit he speaks mysteries [secret truths, hidden things].
One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church [promotes growth in spiritual wisdom, devotion, holiness, and joy].
So it is with you, if you speak words [in an unknown tongue] that are not intelligible and clear, how will anyone understand what you are saying? You will be talking into the air [wasting your breath]!
Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may [be gifted to] translate or explain [what he says].
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive [because it does not understand what my spirit is praying].
nevertheless, in public worship I would rather say five understandable words in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue [which others cannot understand].
What then is the right course, believers? When you meet together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation (disclosure of special knowledge), a tongue, or an interpretation. Let everything be constructive and edifying and done for the good of all the church.
If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be limited to two or at the most three, and each one speaking in turn, and one must interpret [what is said].
and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.
If anyone thinks himself to be religious [scrupulously observant of the rituals of his faith], and does not control his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless (futile, barren).
In the same sense, the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.See [by comparison] how great a forest is set on fire by a small spark!
And the tongue is [in a sense] a fire, the very world of injustice and unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our members as that which contaminates the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life [the cycle of man’s existence], and is itself set on fire by hell (Gehenna).
But no one can tame the human tongue; it is a restless evil [undisciplined, unstable], full of deadly poison.
For,“The one who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good—whether apparent or not],Must keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from speaking guile (treachery, deceit).
He was also permitted to wage war against the saints (God’s people) and to overcome them, and authority and power over every tribe and people and language and nation.