Proverbs 26:22

22 Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you want junk like that in your belly?

Proverbs 26:22 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 26:22

The words of a talebearer [are] as wounds, and they go down
into the innermost parts of the belly.
] These expressions are the same with those in ( Proverbs 18:8 ) ; and are here repeated, as being found along with others by the men of Hezekiah, ( Proverbs 25:1 ) ; as some others likewise are; and also because of the importance of them; and to impress the minds of men with a sense of the evil of such a practice, that they may shun it, and avoid those that are given to it. (See Gill on Proverbs 18:8).

Proverbs 26:22 In-Context

20 When you run out of wood, the fire goes out; when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.

21 A quarrelsome person in a dispute is like kerosene thrown on a fire.

22 Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you want junk like that in your belly?

23 Smooth talk from an evil heart is like glaze on cracked pottery.

24 Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend, all the while conniving against you.