He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
Continuing his answer about who may dwell near God, David focuses entirely on speech in this verse. Three related behaviors are named: not slandering — which in the ancient world meant spreading damaging or false reports that could destroy someone's reputation or livelihood; not wronging a neighbor — not harming those in your immediate community; and not casting a slur on a fellowman — not speaking contemptuously or dismissively about others. In ancient Israelite society, your reputation was your social capital, and slander could effectively ruin a person's life. David is making the case that how you use your words — especially when the person you're talking about isn't in the room — is a serious measure of your character before God.
Lord, put a guard on my mouth — and on my fingers before I type. Where I've used words to wound or diminish people who weren't in the room to defend themselves, forgive me. Help me be someone others can trust not just with their presence, but with their reputation. Amen.
Most people who gossip don't identify as gossips. We call it processing. We call it venting. We say 'I'm just being honest' or 'you need to know this about them.' The subject of the conversation is almost always someone who isn't there to offer their side. There's a reason this verse sits in the middle of a list describing someone who lives close to God. Words travel. They arrive before you do and linger long after you leave. What you say about your coworker over dinner, the comment you make under your breath about a neighbor, the group chat where you 'just share what happened' — it all lands somewhere real. It shapes how others see that person. It can close doors, end friendships, cost people opportunities. And it slowly corrodes the person who keeps saying it. The person David describes isn't someone who has mastered silence out of fear or cowardice. It's someone who has decided that restraint in speech is an act of love — that the people you talk about deserve to be treated with dignity even when they're not in the room.
David places speech alongside major ethical categories like doing no wrong to a neighbor. Why do you think words carry such serious moral weight here — and do you agree with that assessment?
Think about the last time you said something about someone that you wouldn't have said directly to them. What was driving it — fear, frustration, a need to feel understood?
We live in a culture where criticism, snark, and public callouts are often rewarded with attention and approval. Does this verse put you in tension with anything in your daily digital life?
How might your closest relationships change if the people in your life knew with certainty that you never spoke negatively about them behind their backs? What would that kind of trust make possible?
What is one specific habit of speech — a conversation you keep having, a chat you participate in — that you could change or step back from this week?
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
3 John 1:11
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
Psalms 101:5
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exodus 20:16
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:16
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
James 4:11
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Exodus 23:1
He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
AMP
who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
ESV
He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
NASB
and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
NIV
He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
NKJV
Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends.
NLT
"Don't hurt your friend, don't blame your neighbor;
MSG