21 Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. 22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. 23 Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart.
Proverbs 26:21–23
Semantically similar passages
Proverbs 18:7–9
7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. 9 Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.
Proverbs 16:26–28
26 A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger drives him onward. 27 A worthless man digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. 28 A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.
Sirach 19:11–13
11 A fool will travail in pain with a word, as a woman in labor with a child. (WEB) 12 As an arrow that sticks in the flesh of the thigh, so is gossip in a fool. (WEB) 13 Question a friend; it may be he didn’t do it. If he did something, it may be that he may do it no more. (WEB)
Proverbs 25:17–19
17 Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house, lest he grow weary and hate you. 18 Like a club or sword or sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor. 19 Like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint is confidence in a faithless man in time of trouble.
Sirach 22:23–25
23 Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, that in his prosperity you may have gladness. Stay steadfast to him in the time of his affliction, that you may be heir with him in his inheritance. (WEB) 24 Before fire is the vapor and smoke of a furnace, so insults prece… (WEB)
Psalms of Solomon 12:1–3
1 O Lord, deliver my soul from the lawless and wicked man, From the tongue that is lawless and slanderous, and speaketh lies and deceit. (PSS) 2 Manifoldly twisted are the words of the tongue of the wicked man, Even as among a people a fire that burneth up their beauty. (PSS) 3 … (PSS)
Sirach 11:31–33
31 For he lies in wait to turn things that are good into evil, and assigns blame in things that are praiseworthy. (WEB) 32 From a spark of fire, a heap of many coals is kindled, and a sinful man lies in wait to shed blood. (WEB) 33 Take heed of an evil-doer, for he plans wicked thi… (WEB)
Proverbs 25:22–24
22 For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you. 23 As the north wind brings forth rain, so a backbiting tongue brings angry looks. 24 Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
Search the collection All books and codes Translations and sources