For lack of wood, the fire goes out. And without a slanderer, strife ceases.
A perverse man sends forth strife, And a whisperer separates intimate friends.
Cast out the scoffer and strife goes out, And contention and shame cease.
The words of a slanderer are as dainty morsels, Which go down into the inner parts of the heart.
‘Do not go slandering among your people. Do not stand against the blood of your neighbour. I am יהוה.
So too the tongue is a little member, yet boasts greatly. See how a little fire kindles a great forest!
And the tongue is a fire, the world of unrighteousness. Among our members the tongue is set, the one defiling the entire body, and setting on fire the wheel of life, and it is set on fire by Gehenna.