"Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. " Proverbs: 4:24

Okay, before we go on to discuss this verse, we need to know what is 'perversity'. A quick look up in the Thesaurus lists the following synonyms: wicked, bad, mean, vicious, stubborn, obstinate, headstrong...

We all can immediately relate these words to some people we might know. But that is only secondary. First, let us look at our selves. Do we identify any of these characteristics as part of our talk?

Perverse talk comes from perverse tongue and the Bible says, "A man of perverse heart does not prosper; he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble." Proverbs 17:20 and in Proverbs 10:31 we read, "...a perverse tongue will be cut out"

It is a serious matter - the perverse mouth which results from a perverse heart - and has to be handled at once.

Let us at once put away perversity from our mouth & keep corrupt talk far from our lips.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:9-12