Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. | Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. |
A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. | A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. |
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The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. | The lips of the righteous know what finds favor, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse. |
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. | To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. |
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. | The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. |
Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous. | Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways. For the Lord detests the perverse but takes the upright into his confidence. |
Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life. | Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. |
The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. | The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. |
He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. | Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. |
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. | The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” |
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. | We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. |