Saturday, October 10, 2026 · Chapter 10
Fewer Words, More Worth
Everybody’s got an opinion and a phone to blast it from. Solomon says the opposite is the wise move: shut your mouth more, and when you do talk, make it worth something.
In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
Proverbs 10:19
The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.
Proverbs 10:20
IThe Hebrew, opened up
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to restrain, hold back, keep in check — especially used for keeping your lips shut
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chosen, select, picked out as the best — from bachar, “to choose”
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silver — the metal used as money, valued for being refined and pure
Chasak isn’t “can’t think of anything to say.” It’s a man actively grabbing hold of words that are loaded in the chamber and choosing not to fire them. The verse doesn’t say talking is sin — it says the more words you put out, the more surface area sin has to land on. The guy who stays wise is the one holding the leash on his own mouth. The Hebrew is literally “silver, chosen” — silver that’s been picked out, tested, and set apart from the scrap. That’s what the just man’s tongue is: words that have been through a selection process before they leave his mouth, not whatever came to mind first. The wicked man’s heart, by contrast, is “little worth” — cheap, unrefined, not worth the weight.
IIWhat this actually means
He’s not asking you to go silent. He’s asking you to run your words through a filter before they go out — the way a refiner runs silver through fire to burn off the junk. Less talking, more weighing. A mouth that never stops running is a mouth that eventually runs into sin; a mouth that holds back and picks its words is a mouth you can trust.
IIIObey it today
When a conversation at work starts getting tense today, say one sentence less than you want to, then stop and let the silence sit instead of filling it.
When someone asks you something you don’t actually know, say “I don’t know” out loud instead of guessing and dressing the guess up as fact.
Before you hit send on a long text or email today, read it back and cut it by half — keep only the words that are actually doing work.
PrayerLord, put a hand over my mouth today before my words turn into sin, and make the few words I do say worth something.
Keep this in your chest
“In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.”
Proverbs 10:19