Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageLife and death hang on the tongue's edge—and those who wield it will feast or famish on what it yields.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GDeath and life are in the hand of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
KJV
King James VersionDeath and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleLife and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Footnotes
בְּיַד לָשׁוֹן (b'yad lashon, "in the hand of the tongue") is a striking anthropomorphism—the tongue is personified as holding life and death in its grip, like a weapon or sceptre. This verse is the theological apex of the speech-theme threading through the entire chapter (vv. 4, 6, 7, 8, 13, 20). אֹהֲבֶיהָ (ohaveha, "those who love it") is deliberately ambiguous: those who love the tongue and wield it eagerly must eat whatever fruit their words produce—for good or ill. FOG preserves the stark personification; FOG Message dramatises the stakes with "feast or famish" to make the reciprocal consequence viscerally felt.