| A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. | A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends. |
| The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others. | He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart; he who doesn’t slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man. |
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| A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret. | One who brings gossip betrays a confidence, but one who is of a trustworthy spirit is one who keeps a secret. |
| Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. | 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. |
| With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape. | With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but the righteous will be delivered through knowledge. |
| Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool. | He who hides hatred has lying lips. He who utters a slander is a fool. |
| Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. | Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. |
| Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. | Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. |
| Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. | Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies. |
| The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. | A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit. |
| The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. | The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person’s innermost parts. |
