Passage
The tongue of the wise maketh knowledge good, And the mouth of fools uttereth folly.
Proverbs 15:2 (YLT)
Nearby Context
Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth back fury, And a grievous word raiseth up anger.
Proverbs 15:2 The tongue of the wise maketh knowledge good, And the mouth of fools uttereth folly.
Proverbs 15:3 In every place are the eyes of Jehovah, Watching the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:4 A healed tongue <FI>is<Fi> a tree of life, And perverseness in it--a breach in the spirit.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "tongue", "wise", "maketh", "knowledge", "good", "mouth", "fools", and "uttereth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "tongue" and "wise", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "A soft answer turneth back fury And..." into verse 3's "In every place are the eyes of...", so "tongue" and "wise" 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 "tongue" and "wise" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.