The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
Proverbs 10 collects short sayings about how God governs the world He made. This verse sets two mouths side by side: one keeps producing wisdom, and God silences the other.
The ground of the chapter
These sayings are not about how a sinner is saved. One writer marks out the whole book's territory before any single proverb is weighed:
J. N. DarbyProverbs 10 begins the detailed teaching. It shows those who listen how to avoid the traps that catch the simple. It shows the path to take in many situations, and where people's actions lead. In short, it shows what wisdom looks like in detail. It shows what counts as good sense for anyone, and godly discretion for the children of God. It also shows how God's government turns out, whatever things may look like for a while. It is worth noting that this book does not deal with redemption or propitiation. It sets out a way of living that follows the wisdom of God's government.
Propitiation is the sacrifice that meets God's claim against sin; this book leaves that subject aside. Its concern is consequences: wisdom keeps flowing from one mouth, and God stops the other.
A mouth reveals a heart
Wisdom does not appear on the lips out of nowhere. Words work like a window, and what is behind the window is the real subject:
C. H. MackintoshWhatever is in the heart comes out through the lips, and in the life. How important it is then to have a heart full of the word of God. Fill it so full that there is no room left for the empty, foolish things of this present evil world... "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." So we can judge what is in the heart by what comes out of the mouth. The tongue is the organ of the heart — the organ of the man.
That test works fast. Another writer puts the same principle in plain terms: "What fills my heart will come off my tongue. So you can always tell what occupies my heart, because I have a tongue. I cannot deceive you for long." (W. T. P. Wolston)
Where a righteous mouth gets its supply
If words only flow out of the heart, the heart needs a good supply. One writer shows where that supply comes from:
Leslie M. GrantA good person is one whose heart is purified by faith in the Son of God, because by nature "no one does good, not even one" (Rom. 3:12). Only the grace of God can make a difference in the person. God then plants a "good treasure" in that heart. The treasure is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, given to "jars of clay" (2 Cor. 4:6-7). Only good can come from this, however weak the vessel may be.
Two verdicts, both sure
The verse holds a promise and a threat together. One writer ties them to each other, then names the person behind the good treasure:
William KellyThey may spew out their own shame now. But "the perverse tongue will be cut out," as surely as "the mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom." It is the eye fixed on the Lord alone that teaches the lips what pleases God as well as people. The mouth of the wicked speaks twisted things, out of the abundance of his heart. The good man speaks out of his good treasure. That treasure is Christ Himself.
(Older translations render the second line "cut out" rather than the ESV's "cut off.")
The weight of the warning
Do not brush the second half aside, whichever way you take it:
Leslie M. GrantMeanwhile, "the mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom." But the one with a perverse tongue will have it cut out. This is a serious matter, whether it is literal or symbolic.
This is not only about a distant day. Careless speech has consequences now, under God's hand: "even now, under God's government, if I am not careful with my tongue, I may come under His discipline. The seed I sow will bring its own crop in due time." (W. T. P. Wolston)
What wise speech sounds like
One writer, commenting on Colossians, names two ingredients in wise speech, and says the order between them matters:
William KellyGrace gives us the warm glow of God's favour to people who do not deserve it. It shows what God is in Christ to those who belong to this guilty, ruined world. Salt stands for the guard of holiness — the preserving power of God's rights in a world full of corruption. It does not say, "always with salt, seasoned with grace." It says, "always with grace, seasoned with salt." Grace should always be the ground and the source of everything we say.
Summary
- Ground. Proverbs does not teach how a sinner is forgiven. It shows how God's government turns out, however things look now.
- Source. The mouth is the organ of the heart — you can read what fills a person by what comes off the tongue.
- Supply. A righteous mouth has a good treasure planted in it by grace, and that treasure is Christ Himself.
- Shape. Wise words rest on grace and carry holiness as the seasoning. Never one without the other.
- Settlement. God silences the perverse tongue as surely as He keeps the righteous mouth speaking. His discipline of careless speech starts now, not only at the end.