Bible verses about gossip

GOSSIP

Gossip is one of those things that we can easily justify, especially when we have been hurt, and sometimes it is just out of our hidden hatred and malice for others.

Gossip can take many forms, including venting, sharing opinions, seeking advice, and feigning concern. A gossip spreads confidential information around. They are untrustworthy.

The Bible is unequivocal about the dangers of not having control over your mouth and what you say. The words we use have tremendous power to both build up and tear down. Gossip is poisonous. 

There are two fundamental truths about gossip:

• Those that gossip to you will also gossip about you.
• And being the recipient of gossip makes you part of the problem. 

Malicious talk or gossip is mentioned in the Bible, alongside sins such as murder and envy. The bible clearly condemns the sin of gossip. Are your words destroying or bringing life to others? Remember what 1st John 3 verse 6 says: "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." Gossip quickly becomes habitual and takes over your conscious awareness. If kept unchecked it destroys a person from the inside out.

"A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken." Matthew 12:35-36

Here are some Bible verses about the sin of gossip:

James 1:26

"Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless." 

Proverbs 11:9
"With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape."

Proverbs 16:28

"A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends."

Proverbs 26:20

"Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down."

Proverbs 11:13
"A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret."

1 Peter 3:16
"keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

Proverbs 20:19 
"A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much."

Proverbs 16:28
"A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends."

Proverbs 12:18
"The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Proverbs 18:8
"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts."

Proverbs 18:21
"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

Ephesians 4:31
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."

Proverbs 10:18
"Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool."

Matthew 15:19
"For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."

1 Peter 2:1
"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind."

Proverbs 26:22
"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts."

Exodus 23:1
“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness."

Ephesians 4:29
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

James 3:6 
"The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."