It is not good to be partial to the wicked
or to deprive the righteous of justice.
A fool's lips walk into a fight,
and his mouth invites a beating.
A fool's mouth is his ruin,
and his lips are a snare to his soul.
The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.Proverbs 18:5-8
The thought in 5 echoes that in 17:26 (cf also 28:21). This repeated emphasis on the corruption of justice (through bribery and such like) indicates that it was a common occurrence in the writer's day. Moffatt renders 6, 'A fool's talk gets him into trouble'. There may be a contrast intended with 4. There is a development in 7, as if to suggest that if strokes (flogging, RSV), disaster and danger to the soul will result. The association of ideas in 8 with 6 and 7 is striking. There is an element of perversity in the foolishness that indulges in tale bearing that can prove to be a real snare to a man's soul. The AV's makes good sense, for there is nothing surer than that gossiping can do lasting hurt to those who are its unfortunate victims. The RSV translates differently, however, and 'wounds' become 'delicious morsels', the word being said to derive from a verb meaning 'to swallow greedily'. The meaning in 8b is that either passing on these tit bits, or receiving them from others, will do immense harm to our inmost being. People who indulge in this unsavoury habit tend to become known, and it is possible to forestall their avid recounting of the latest scandal by making it clear that one has no wish to hear. The question that this verse poses to us is: are we channels, or terminals, for gossip?