01_Biblica_1_F_Gregory_Layout 1 05/11/12 12:13 Pagina 322 322 BRADLEY C. GREGORY Because of the weighty consequences that can follow from speech, the sages in Proverbs consistently urge the need for care and restraint in speaking. For example: He who keeps watch over his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble. (21,23) He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips, ruin is his. (13,3) The proverb preserved in 13,3 is particularly poignant since it portrays the ability to restrain one’s speech as a matter of life and death. Throughout Proverbs there is a consistent correlation be- tween restrained speech and wisdom, on the one hand, and unre- strained speech and folly, on the other. The nature of the contrast in chapters 15 and 10 is significant: The tongue of the wise makes knowledge pleasant, but the mouth of fools pours out folly. (15,2) The mind of the righteous considers how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil. (15,28) The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but the mouth of the wicked masks violence. (10,11) With many words, transgression does not cease, but the sage restrains his lips. (10,19) The mouth of the righteous bears the fruit of wisdom, but the tongue of the perverse will be cut off. (10,31) While the basic contrast in these verses is not particularly sur- prising, the language used by the sages is revealing, for it suggests that one’s speech is simply a reflection of one’s inner disposition. Fools pour out folly whereas the mouth of the righteous is like a geyser of life, gushing out wisdom. As William Baker observes, “The mouth of the fool cannot help but gush folly. The opposite is true of the righteous man who cannot help but spout wisdom” 2. 2 W.R. BAKER, Personal Speech-Ethics in the Epistle of James (WUNT II/68; Tübingen 1995) 109, n. 13.