18:21
This verse is closely related to 18:20. The first line describes the power of a person’s words to accomplish great good or evil. The second line reminds people who love to talk that they will have to face the consequences.
21a Life and death are in the power of the tongue,
21b and those who love it will eat its fruit.
The verse as a whole is an implied warning that people who talk a lot should be careful what they say.
18:21a
Life and death are in the power of the tongue: In Hebrew, this clause is literally “Death and life are in the hand of the tongue.” The word “hand” is used figuratively here to mean power. It refers to the power or authority of a person’s words to bring about certain consequences. If your language has a different figure of speech with the same meaning, consider using it here.
Life and death: In Hebrew, this word pair occurs in the opposite order (“death and life”). The Berean Standard Bible has changed it to Life and death, because this order is more common in English.
This word pair is used here as a figure of speech. In this figure of speech, the two extremes “life and death” include other good and bad consequences between these two extremes. What a person says can significantly help or harm another person. It can even result in someone’s life being preserved or lost.
the tongue: The word tongue here has the same meaning as the words “mouth” and “lips” in 18:20. It is a figure of speech that refers to the words that a person speaks.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
Words can bring death or life! (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
What you say can mean life or death. (New Century Version)
18:21b
and those who love it: The phrase those who love it refers here to those who love to use their tongues. In other words, they very much enjoy talking.
will eat its fruit: The phrase will eat its fruit is used here as a figure of speech. It means that those who enjoy talking will experience the consequences of their words, whether good or bad.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
those who love its use will eat its fruit (NET Bible)
-or-
those who love to talk will reap the consequences (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say. (Good News Translation)
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