Proverbs 18:8
The words of a double-tongued man be as simple; and they come unto the inner things of the womb. Dread casteth down a slow man; forsooth the souls of men turned into women’s condition shall have hunger. (A gossip’s words be tasty; and they go down into the innermost parts. Fear casteth down the lazy; and those who be timid shall have hunger.)
Wycliffe Modern Spelling
In The King James Version
The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
In Context
7The mouth of a fool is [the] defouling of him; and his lips be the falling of his soul.
Cross References
Psalms 52:2All day thy tongue thought unrightfulness; as a sharp razor thou hast done guile. (Thy tongue speaketh unrighteousness, sharp like a razor; yea, thou hast been deceitful.)
Proverbs 12:18A man is that promiseth, and he is pricked as with the sword of conscience; but the tongue of wise men is health. (There is a person who speaketh, and his words cut like a sword; but the tongues of the wise give health.)
Proverbs 26:20When trees fail [or When woods shall fail], the fire shall be quenched; and when a privy backbiter is withdrawn, strives rest. (When there is no more wood, the fire shall be quenched; and when a gossip departeth, or stoppeth speaking, the argument shall be ended.)
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 18:7-8
6 A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. 7 A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Solomon has often shown what mischief bad men do to others with their ungoverned tongues; here he shows what mischief they do to themselves. 1. They embroil themselves in quarrels: A fool's lips, without any cause or call, enter into contention, by advancing foolish notions which others find themselves obliged to oppose, and so a quarrel is begun, or by giving… Read the whole commentary →