Proverbs 13:1-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 13
1 A wise son loves correction,
but the scoffer heeds no rebuke.[a]
2 From the fruit of the mouth one enjoys good things,(A)
but from the throat of the treacherous comes violence.[b]
3 Those who guard their mouths preserve themselves;[c]
those who open wide their lips bring ruin.(B)
Footnotes
- 13:1 Another in the series on the household, this one on the relation of parents and children. See under 10:1. The scoffer in Proverbs condemns discipline and thus can never become wise. Wise adult children advertise to the community what they received from their parents, for children become wise through a dialectical process involving the parents. A foolish adult child witnesses to foolish parents.
- 13:2 One’s mouth normally eats food from outside, but in the moral life, things are reversed: one eats from the fruit of one’s mouth, i.e., one experiences the consequences of one’s own actions. Since the mouth of the treacherous is filled with violence, one must assume that they will some day endure violence.
- 13:3 Preserve themselves: in Hebrew, literally to preserve the throat area, the moist breathing center of one’s body, thus “life,” “soul,” or “self.” There is wordplay: if you guard your mouth (= words) you guard your “soul.” Fools, on the other hand, do not guard but open their lips and disaster strikes. A near duplicate is 21:23.
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