“Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.”
The psalmist provides the first practical teaching: "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit." The focus emphasizes that speech is the primary concern: one who desires flourishing must control the instruments of speech. The instruction to keep the tongue from evil suggests control is not external suppression but redirection. The reference to deceit suggests that lies and deception are particular evils of speech. The verse establishes that flourishing begins with control of the mouth.
Church Fathers on Psalms 34:13
A psalm of David, when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed. 1. Because there was there a sacrifice after the order of Aaron, and afterwards He of His Own Body and Blood appointed a sacrifice after the order of Melchizedek; He changed then His Countenance in the Priesthood, and sent away the kingdom of the Jews, and came to the Gentiles. What then is, “He affected”? He was full of affection. For what is so full of affection as…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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