Proverbs 18:8
The words of a tale-bearer [are] as self-inflicted wounds, And they have gone down [to] the inner parts of the heart.
Young's Literal Translation
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] ruin to him, And his lips [are] the snare of his soul.
9He also that is remiss in his work, A brother he [is] to a destroyer.
Cross References
Psalms 52:2Mischiefs doth thy tongue devise, Like a sharp razor, working deceit.
Proverbs 12:18A rash speaker is like piercings of a sword, And the tongue of the wise is healing.
Proverbs 26:20Without wood is fire going out, And without a tale-bearer, contention ceaseth,
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 →