Sirach 28:12-14

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Evil Tongue

¹²If you blow on a spark, it will glow;
if you spit on it, it will be put out;
yet both come out of your mouth.

¹³Curse the gossips and the double-tongued,
    for they destroy the peace of many.
¹⁴Slander^[a] has shaken many,
    and scattered them from nation to nation;
it has destroyed strong cities,
    and overturned the houses of the great.

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Footnotes

Sirach 28:14 Gk A third tongue

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.