11 translations · Hebrew
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:21 in 11 translations
- WEB World English Bible
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
- KJV King James Version
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
- BSB Berean Standard Bible
- Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
- ASV American Standard Version
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
- LSV Literal Standard Version
- Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue, || And those loving it eat its fruit.
- FBV Free Bible Version
- What you say has the power to bring life or to kill; those who love talking will have to deal with the consequences.
- YLT Young’s Literal Translation
- Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue, And those loving it eat its fruit.
- DBY Darby Translation
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
- WBT Webster’s Bible
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit of it.
- WEBC World English Bible (Catholic)
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
- DRA Douay-Rheims 1899
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue: they that love it, shall eat the fruits thereof.
The Hebrew words
Each word of the Hebrew text in order, with its transliteration, the Berean Standard Bible’s English for it, and its Strong’s number and short definition.
| Word | Transliteration | English (BSB) | Strong’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| מָ֣וֶת | mā·weṯ | and death | H4194 מָ֫וֶת death |
| וְ֭חַיִּים | wə·ḥay·yîm | Life | H2416 חַי alive |
| בְּיַד־ | bə·yaḏ- | are in the power | H3027 יָד hand |
| לָשׁ֑וֹן | lā·šō·wn | of the tongue | H3956 לָשׁוֹן tongue |
| וְ֝אֹהֲבֶ֗יהָ | wə·’ō·hă·ḇe·hā | and those who love [it] | H157 אָהֵב to love: lover |
| יֹאכַ֥ל | yō·ḵal | will eat | H398 אָכַל to eat |
| פִּרְיָֽהּ׃ | pir·yāh | its fruit | H6529 פְּרִי fruit |
Related verses
- Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
- Matthew 12:35–37
The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
- Proverbs 10:19–21
In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely. The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.
- James 3:6–9
And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. …
- Proverbs 13:2–3
By the fruit of his lips, a man enjoys good things; but the unfaithful crave violence. He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
- Proverbs 10:31
The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
- Proverbs 18:4–7
The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook. To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice. A fool’s lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings. …
- Ecclesiastes 10:12–14
The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn’t know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him?
- Proverbs 12:13
An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.
Cross references from OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0, most-voted first; text from the World English Bible.
In context
19 A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a fortress.
20 A man’s stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
22 Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of Yahweh.
23 The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.
Read all of Proverbs 18 in the World English Bible.
Edition and source notes
Each translation is shown as its source prints it, in its own verse numbering; where an edition numbers this verse differently, its own reference is given. The World English Bible, King James Version and Berean Standard Bible link to their chapter pages. Edition notes.
Literal Standard Version (2020) © Covenant Press and the Covenant Christian Coalition, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. Imported from the checksum-pinned eBible.org USFX source; the extracted verse text is an adaptation shared under the same license. Free Bible Version (2018) © Dr. Jonathan Gallagher, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. Imported from the checksum-pinned eBible.org USFX source; the extracted verse text is an adaptation shared under the same license.
The original words and their English come from the Berean Standard Bible translation tables (public domain); lemmas and short definitions from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0), with Greek definitions based on Abbott-Smith.
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