11
A hasty quarrel kindles a fire, and a hasty dispute sheds blood.
12
If you blow on a spark, it will glow; if you spit on it, it will be put out; yet both come out of your mouth.
13
Curse the gossips and the double-tongued, for they destroy the peace of many.
14
Slander has shaken many, and scattered them from nation to nation; it has destroyed strong cities, and overturned the houses of the great.
15
Slander has driven virtuous women from their homes, and deprived them of the fruit of their toil.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.