24 Put away from you an evil tongue, and let false lips be far from you.
If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.
All the words of my mouth are righteousness; there is nothing false or twisted in them.
And so, putting away false words, let everyone say what is true to his neighbour: for we are parts one of another. Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath; And do not give way to the Evil One. Let him who was a thief be so no longer, but let him do good work with his hands, so that he may have something to give to him who is in need. Let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for giving necessary teaching, and for grace to those who give ear. And do not give grief to the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were marked for the day of salvation. Let all bitter, sharp and angry feeling, and noise, and evil words, be put away from you, with all unkind acts;
For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation.
So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk,
A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;
The fear of the Lord is seen in hating evil: pride, a high opinion of oneself, the evil way, and the false tongue, are unpleasing to me.
Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?
But now it is right for you to put away all these things; wrath, passion, bad feeling, curses, unclean talk;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 4
Commentary on Proverbs 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
When the things of God are to be taught precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, not only because the things themselves are of great worth and weight, but because men's minds, at the best, are unapt to admit them and commonly prejudiced against them; and therefore Solomon, in this chapter, with a great variety of expression and a pleasant powerful flood of divine eloquence, inculcates the same things that he had pressed upon us in the foregoing chapters. Here is,
So plainly, so pressingly, is the case laid before us, that we shall be for ever inexcusable if we perish in our folly.
Pro 4:1-13
Here we have,
Pro 4:14-19
Some make David's instructions to Solomon, which began v. 4, to continue to the end of the chapter; nay, some continue them to the end of the ninth chapter; but it is more probable that Solomon begins here again, if not sooner. In these verses, having exhorted us to walk in the paths of wisdom, he cautions us against the path of the wicked.
Pro 4:20-27
Solomon, having warned us not to do evil, here teaches us how to do well. It is not enough for us to shun the occasions of sin, but we must study the methods of duty.