²¹ He will keep you safe from the evil tongue; and you will have no fear of wasting when it comes.

²⁰ You will keep them safe in your house from the designs of man; in the secret of your tent will you keep them from angry tongues.

⁵ Even so the tongue is a small part of the body, but it takes credit for great things. How much wood may be lighted by a very little fire!

⁶ And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.

⁷ For every sort of beast and bird and every living thing on earth and in the sea has been controlled by man and is under his authority;

⁸ But the tongue may not be controlled by man; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death.

¹⁸ There are some whose uncontrolled talk is like the wounds of a sword, but the tongue of the wise makes one well again.

²¹ The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they were sharp swords.

⁴ My soul is among lions; I am stretched out among those who are on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and whose tongue is a sharp sword.

⁵ You will have no fear of the evil things of the night, or of the arrow in flight by day,

⁶ Or of the disease which takes men in the dark, or of the destruction which makes waste when the sun is high.

⁷ You will see a thousand falling by your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you.

¹⁷ No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.

¹⁸ Then they said, Come, let us make a design against Jeremiah; for teaching will never be cut off from the priest, or wisdom from the wise, or the word from the prophet. Come, let us make use of his words for an attack on him, and let us give attention with care to what he says.