Bible Strands
Psalms 34:13
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist answers the rhetorical question of v.12, addressing anyone who "delights in life" with a direct command about speech.
The words — נָצוֹר (natsor, H5341) means "keep, guard," evoking a sentinel's vigilance rather than casual avoidance. מִרְמָה (mirmah, H4820) is not mere "lying" but active deceit or treachery.
The thread — Psalm 141:3 prays for a guard over the mouth and lips; Proverbs 21:23 links guarding the mouth to keeping the soul from distress; James 3:5 underscores the tongue's disproportionate power.
Why it lands — It reduces the question of a good life to a daily, concrete discipline: watch what you say, and say it truthfully.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Cross-references
- James 3:5 In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.
- Psalms 141:3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.
- Proverbs 21:23 He who guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from distress.
- 1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”
- Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,
- James 1:19 My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
- James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.
- Proverbs 13:3 He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.
- Psalms 39:1 For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, “I will watch my ways so that I will not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are present.”
- James 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.