71 Bible Verses about Guard Your Tongue

Proverbs 21:23 ESV / 28 helpful votes

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

James 1:26 ESV / 26 helpful votes

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Matthew 12:36 ESV / 24 helpful votes

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,

Proverbs 18:21 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Proverbs 13:3 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Matthew 15:11 ESV / 20 helpful votes

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

James 3:8 ESV / 18 helpful votes

But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

James 1:19 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Ephesians 4:29 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Proverbs 17:27 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

James 3:5-6 ESV / 9 helpful votes

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

Proverbs 18:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.

Psalm 120:2-3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?

Psalm 39:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes

To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.”

Proverbs 26:28 ESV / 6 helpful votes

A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

Proverbs 12:19 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Proverbs 10:31 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

Psalm 141:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

Psalm 50:19 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.

Psalm 19:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 15:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

1 Peter 3:10-11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

Micah 7:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;

Proverbs 20:19 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.

Proverbs 17:20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.

Proverbs 16:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

Proverbs 10:19 ESV / 5 helpful votes

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 5 helpful votes

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Psalm 15:1-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

Genesis 8:21 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

James 3:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

1 Timothy 5:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

Proverbs 17:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

Proverbs 6:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

A false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Psalm 109:2-5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

Psalm 101:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.

Psalm 52:4-6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying,

Psalm 34:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 10:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

Job 27:3-4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

Leviticus 19:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

Exodus 4:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”

Colossians 3:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Ephesians 2:1-22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ...

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

1 Corinthians 14:1-40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. ...

1 Corinthians 12:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ...

Luke 6:45 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Matthew 18:15-17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Proverbs 25:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.

Proverbs 15:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Psalm 50:19-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

James 4:13-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

James 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 3:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Romans 1:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

Romans 1:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

Matthew 18:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Proverbs 26:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.

Proverbs 11:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

Psalm 64:3-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear. They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see them?”

Psalm 57:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

Psalm 51:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 39:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.

Psalm 5:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

Deuteronomy 19:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ...

Genesis 1:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

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