Pro 13:3 | NET2full | STEP | The one who guards his words guards his life ; whoever is talkative will come to ruin .

‏ Proverbs 13:3

3 The one who guards his words ^{▼▼tn Heb “mouth” (so KJV, NAB). The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.} guards his life;
whoever is talkative ^{▼▼tn Heb “opens wide his lips.” This is an idiom meaning “to be talkative” (BDB 832 s.v. פָּשַׂק Qal). Cf. NIV11 “speak rashly”; TEV “a careless talker”; CEV “talk too much.”} will come to ruin. ^{▼▼tn Heb “ruin belongs to him.”} ^{▼▼sn Tight control over what one says prevents trouble (e.g., Prov 10:10; 17:28; Jas 3:1-12; Sir 28:25). Amenemope advises to “sleep a night before speaking” (5:15; ANET 422, n. 10). The old Arab proverb is appropriate: “Take heed that your tongue does not cut your throat” (O. Zockler, Proverbs, 134).}