The Nugget:
Psa 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. (KJV)
Psa 34:13 My counsel is, keep thy tongue clear of harm, and thy lips free from every treacherous word. (Knox translation)
Psa 34:13 Keep thy tongue from wickedness, And thy lips from speaking deceit: (EB, Emphasized Bible)
Psa 34:13 Then make sure you don’t speak evil words or use deceptive speech! (NET Bible)
Psa 34:13 Keep your tongue from saying evil things and your lips from speaking deceitful things. (GW, God’s Word translation)
Psa 34:13 Then avoid saying anything hurtful, and never let a lie come out of your mouth. (ERV, Easy to Read Version)
Psa 34:12 Do you want to live and enjoy a long life?
Psa 34:13 Then don’t say cruel things and don’t tell lies. (CEV, Contemporary English Version)
My Comment:
David, the Psalmist, has set out to give us advice on how to please, honor, and respect the Lord. Following this advice will bring both present and eternal rewards.
It seems impossible to read political news today and come away without spotting blatant propaganda intended to deceive rather than inform the reader.
There are workable solutions to the societal, economic, and moral problems we now face.
As for our economic problems, the start of a solution is to spend less than we take in via the income tax. The President already has the authority to take action against the greatest expense in the government budget. There are federal laws already on the books against monopolies (on the books more than a century: 15 USC Chapter 1). One monopoly and system of monopolies is connected to the medical profession, the pharmaceutical industry, and the insurance industry. That this law is flagrantly violated every day is easy to see: just look to see how pricing is determined and controlled. Medicare and Medicaid or the precursors to what we have now once cost about 4 percent of the federal budget. It has grown to the current 33 percent of the budget, and likely is the greatest contributor to our current unsustainable financial morass. Federal law, if it were to be properly applied and enforced with its mandatory 10 year prison terms for each person involved would very quickly resolve this problem. It would result in a temporary economic shock wave, but would resolve itself quite quickly. Just start right now putting individuals responsible for these monopoly practices in prison for ten years and all others will quickly stop the practice since they do not want to be next. Where there is no penalty, there is no law. But this law has a penalty. Now enforce it.
A major societal problem has arisen over the past number of years from illegal immigration. There is a simple and direct solution. Enforce the law we already have (on the lawbooks since the 1950s: 8 USC 1324). I can remember that when I was still teaching this law was enforced against all employers and employees. I had to affirm and confirm my status as a citizen of the United States of America. Had I not been able to do so, I would have been released from my job. Enforce this law today, and only those who properly belong here could hold jobs. When employers are fined and imprisoned for employing non-citizens, non-citizens who are here illegally will have no access to jobs or benefits. When managers of rental housing are put in prison for harboring illegal immigrants, the rest will refuse to let illegal immigrants rent their housing or apartments. The illegal immigrants will quickly remove themselves in such a case. With no jobs and no housing and no more free ride, no place to work, no place to stay, they would have no other choice. That would immediately solve the housing and apartment shortage when ten or twenty million illegal migrants are forced to seek employment and shelter elsewhere, like back in their home country. Prices here will come down, and homes will become affordable again.
Moral problems are a thorny issue. They can be solved on an individual basis by heeding the advice of the Psalmist. We need to stop censoring the truth. We have freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Don’t believe or heed the nonsense that religious speech is not protected speech. It is just as much protected as political speech. Those who think or teach otherwise need to learn how to read.
And reading is my expertise. For those who need to improve reading skills, reading comprehension, reading speed, or inference skills, I produced a self-instructional resource that can help anyone of any age (above age 8 years) greatly improve in these areas. Search on Amazon for The Language Enrichment Program by me, Jerome Smith. Buy the program in printed book or Kindle format for a very reasonable price. Follow its directions and you will be helped. See the “Category” to the right titled “The Language Enrichment Program” and read all about it.
I find it very strange that so-called educational experts are striving valiantly to find a solution to the reading achievement problem in my state of Michigan and elsewhere (it was discussed on WJR this morning during commentary on the Governor’s state of the state address last evening). I have done the research. I have written and carefully tested my self-instructional reading program. It works at least 80 percent of the time. That is, 8 out of 10 students show remarkable improvement in less than one semester’s time. The 2 students in 10 who did not show improvement do improve when it happens that I have them in my class in a following semester and they agree to try again.
I hope you have learned something by reading my rant that will be helpful to you!
To dig deeper into what the rest of the Bible has to say about the subjects mentioned in Psalm 34:13 read and study these newly expanded cross references developed from the Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
Psa 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Psalms 34:13
Keep. FS38D, +Psa 27:14.
thy tongue. *Psa 12:3; *Psa 12:4; +*Psa 15:3; **Psa 19:14, **Psa 39:1; Psa 120:3, 4; **Psa 141:3, Lev 19:16, 1Sa 29:8, Job 15:13, Pro 12:14; Prov 15:4; *Pro 18:21; +Pro 21:23, Ecc 10:11, **Mat 12:35, 36, 37, Luk 3:14; Luk 6:45, **Eph 4:29, Col 4:6, *Jas 1:19; *Jas 1:26; *Jas 3:2; *Jas 3:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
from evil. +*Eph 4:31, +*Jas 3:8, 1Pe 3:9, 10.
speaking. +*Psa 15:2; Psa 55:11, *Lev 19:11, Pro 12:17; Pro 12:19; Pro 12:22; Pro 19:9, Isa 63:8, *Eph 4:25, *Col 3:9, *1Pe 2:1; *1Pe 2:22, Rev 14:4, 5.