4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life; But perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: And happy is every one that retaineth her.
There is that speaketh rashly like the piercings of a sword; But the tongue of the wise is health.
And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever- therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Thy tongue deviseth very wickedness, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good, And lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah Thou lovest all devouring words, thou deceitful tongue.
The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, And they go down into the innermost parts.
The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; But a broken spirit who can bear?
If any man teacheth a different doctrine, and consenteth not to sound words, `even' the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, And they go down into the innermost parts.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 15
Commentary on Proverbs 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
We take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found.
Proverbs 15:1
1 A soft answer turneth away wrath,
And a bitter word stirreth up anger.
In the second line, the common word for anger ( אף , from the breathing with the nostrils, Proverbs 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree ( חמה from יחם , cogn. חמם , Arab. hamiya , to glow, like שׁנה from ישׁן ): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger ( excandescentiam ), puts it back, cf. Proverbs 25:15. The Dagesh in רּך follows the rule of the דחיק , i.e. , of the close connection of a word terminating with the accented eh, aah, ah with the following word ( Michlol 63b). The same is the meaning of the Latin proverb:
Frangitur ira gravis
Quando est responsio suavis