Commentary - Proverbs 13:2

Bird's-eye view

This proverb, like so many, sets before us the great antithesis, the stark contrast between two ways of living in God's world. It is a proverb about diet, but not the kind you read about in magazines. It is a proverb about what we consume as a result of what we produce. The righteous man speaks, and from his own words, he prepares a feast of goodness for his own soul. His words create a world of peace, stability, and blessing, and he is the first one to eat from that table. In sharp contrast, the treacherous man, the covenant-breaker, is driven by a gnawing hunger for chaos. His soul craves violence, and this craving is both the engine of his actions and the poison in his own cup. The proverb teaches us that our words are not mere vibrations in the air; they are seeds. And what a man sows with his tongue, he will inevitably reap in his own soul.

At the heart of this contrast is the source of the words. The good man's words proceed from a heart submitted to God's wisdom, and so they produce life. The treacherous man's desires are lawless, arising from a heart in rebellion, and so they produce death. This is the logic of the universe God made: you become what you say, and you eat what you are. The world is a great reverb chamber, and the sounds you make are the ones you will have to live with.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Proverbs 13 is a collection of couplets that frequently contrasts the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, the diligent and the lazy. This verse fits squarely within that pattern. It follows a warning about the ruin that comes from despising the word (v. 13) and precedes a discussion on the good that comes from the law of the wise (v. 14). The immediate context is one of cause and effect in a moral universe. Specifically, Proverbs 13:2 builds on the theme established in the previous chapter: "A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked devices he condemns" (Prov 12:2), and "There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (Prov 12:18). This verse distills that principle, showing that the consequences of our speech are not just external, affecting others, but are profoundly internal, feeding our own souls with either life or death.

Key Issues

Words Are Food

We are accustomed to thinking of our words as something we send out into the world, like arrows or carrier pigeons. But the Bible, and Proverbs in particular, wants us to think of our words as something we also ingest. Jesus Himself says that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of his mouth, because that proceeds from the heart (Matt 15:11, 18). This proverb puts a finer point on it. What comes out of your mouth becomes the very food your soul consumes. You are, in a very real sense, what you speak.

If you speak words of grace, truth, encouragement, and wisdom, you are cultivating a garden. The fruit of that garden is peace, joy, and stability. And you, the gardener, get to eat from it. Your soul is nourished by the good world your words have helped to build. But if you speak words of slander, deceit, bitterness, and treachery, you are sowing the ground with salt and poison. The only harvest is ruin, and your soul is forced to subsist on that toxic crop. This is not arbitrary; it is the way God has wired the cosmos. Our words create our habitat, and then we have to live in it.

Verse by Verse Commentary

2a From the fruit of a man’s mouth he eats what is good,

The first clause sets before us the blessed man. Notice the cause and effect. The "fruit" is the product, the result, the harvest. And where does it grow? On the tree of his "mouth." His speech is productive. It yields something. A man who speaks truth, who gives wise counsel, who encourages the fainthearted, who refuses to slander, who blesses and does not curse, is a man whose words bear good fruit. And the text says he himself "eats what is good." He partakes of the very goodness he creates. His soul is satisfied. He lives in a world of shalom because his words are instruments of shalom. This is not just a psychological trick where he feels better about himself. In a world governed by a righteous God, righteous speech actually produces tangible good. It builds trust, fosters peace, creates stability in relationships, and brings favor from both God and man. The good man speaks goodness, and then he sits down to a feast of it.

2b But the soul of the treacherous desires violence.

Here is the contrast. The word for "treacherous" here points to the faithless, the covenant-breaker, the man who cannot be trusted. His problem is deeper than his words; it is located in his "soul" (nephesh), his essential being, his appetite. And what does his soul crave? What is he hungry for? Violence. The Hebrew word is hamas, which means more than just fisticuffs. It is violence, cruelty, wrongdoing, injustice. This is his heart's desire. While the righteous man cultivates a garden, the treacherous man wants to burn everything down. His words are not aimed at building but at destroying. Slander, threats, deceit, and discord are the native language of his soul. And because this is what his soul desires, this is the world he creates. But the proverb is subtle. It doesn't say "he eats violence," though that is the necessary implication. It says his soul desires it. This points to the insatiable, self-destructive nature of sin. He is addicted to the very thing that will destroy him. He is hungry for poison. His soul is a black hole, craving the chaos that will ultimately consume him. He thinks violence will satisfy him, but it only hollows him out, leaving him perpetually starved for more destruction.

Application

The application of this proverb ought to strike us right between the eyes. We live in an age that is drowning in treacherous words. The internet has given every man a blowhorn, and the souls of the treacherous are having a field day, broadcasting their hunger for violence, outrage, and chaos twenty-four hours a day. We must not be deceived into thinking we can participate in this, even as spectators, without it affecting our own diet.

First, we must examine our own speech. What kind of fruit is growing on the tree of your mouth? Are you eating good things? Is your soul satisfied? Or do you find yourself subsisting on a thin gruel of cynicism, bitterness, and outrage? If your words are consistently critical, slanderous, or divisive, then you are not just harming others; you are starving your own soul. Repentance begins with the tongue. Ask God to set a guard over your mouth (Ps 141:3).

Second, we must recognize that the ultimate good fruit is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is the only man whose mouth produced nothing but perfectly good fruit. He spoke, and worlds came into being. He spoke, and men were healed. He spoke, and sins were forgiven. On the cross, He endured the ultimate violence that our treacherous souls desired, taking the full force of God's righteous wrath against our poisonous words. He consumed the violence so that we might eat the good. When we are united to Him by faith, His Spirit begins to work in us, changing our appetites. He makes us hungry for the good, and He enables us to produce the fruit of righteousness with our mouths. Our speech becomes a means of grace, not just for others, but for ourselves, as we learn to feast on the goodness of God which we are now privileged to declare.