Proverbs 18:21 (DBY)

Passage

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Nearby Context

Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is [harder to be won] than a strong city; and contentions are as the bars of a palace.

Proverbs 18:20 A man's belly is satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; with the increase of his lips is he satisfied.

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Proverbs 18:22 Whoso hath found a wife hath found a good thing, and hath obtained favour from Jehovah.

Proverbs 18:23 He that is poor speaketh with supplications, but the rich answereth roughly.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "death", "life", "power", "tongue", "love", "shall", "fruit", and "thereof". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "death" and "life", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "A man's belly is satisfied with the..." into verse 22's "Whoso hath found a wife hath found...", so "death" and "life" belong inside that flow. In Proverbs context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "death" and "life" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.