Proverbs 18:7

7 The mouth of a fool [is] ruin to him, and his lips [are] a snare to his soul.

Proverbs 18:7 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 18:7

A fool's mouth [is] his destruction
The cause of it; for his contentions, and quarrels, and evil speaking, lawsuits are commenced against him, which bring ruin upon himself and his family now; as well as for his idle and wicked words he will be condemned hereafter, ( Matthew 12:35 ) ; there is a world of iniquity in the mouth and tongue of a wicked man, which bring destruction upon himself and others, ( James 3:6 James 3:8 ) ; and his lips [are] the snare of his soul;
from speaking in his own defence, he says things which should not be said, and by which he is entangled yet more and more; he is caught by his own words and condemned by them; or his loquacity, in which he delights, is a snare unto him to say things which neither become him, nor are for his advantage, but the contrary; see ( Proverbs 12:13 ) .

Proverbs 18:7 In-Context

5 Being partial [to] faces of evil [is] not good, [nor] to subvert the righteous at the judgment.

6 The lips of a fool will bring strife, and his mouth calls out for a flogging.

7 The mouth of a fool [is] ruin to him, and his lips [are] a snare to his soul.

8 The words of a whisper [are] like delicious morsels, and they themselves go down [to] inner parts of the body.

9 Even he who is slack in his work, he is brother to a master of destruction.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "life," or "inner self"