Amsal 4:23-24

4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, ¹ 

for from it are the sources ²  of life.

4:24 Remove perverse speech ³  from your mouth; ⁴ 

keep devious talk far from your lips. ⁵ 

[4:23]  ¹ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

[4:23]  ² sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.

[4:24]  ³ tn Heb “crookedness.” The noun עִקְּשׁוּת (’iqqÿshut) refers to what is morally twisted or perverted. Here it refers to things that are said (cf. NAB “dishonest talk”; NRSV “crooked speech”). The term “mouth” functions as a metonymy of cause for perverse speech. Such perverse talking could be subtle or blatant.

[4:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “crookedness of mouth.”

[4:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “deviousness of lips put far from you.”