5 Sweet words will multiply a man’s friends. A gracious tongue will multiply courtesies. (WEB)
Sirach 6:5
Semantically similar passages
Proverbs 16:23–25
23 The heart of the wise man instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips. 24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. 25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Sirach 40:20–22
20 Wine and music rejoice the heart. The love of wisdom is better than both. (WEB) 21 The pipe and the lute make pleasant melody. A pleasant tongue is better than both. (WEB) 22 Your eye desires grace and beauty, but the green shoots of grain more than both. (WEB)
Sirach 18:16–18
16 Doesn’t the dew relieve the scorching heat? So a word is better than a gift. (WEB) 17 Behold, isn’t a word better than a gift? Both are with a gracious person. (WEB) 18 A fool is ungracious and abusive. The gift of a grudging person consumes the eyes. (WEB)
Proverbs 15:3–5
3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good. 4 A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. 5 A fool rejects his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction is prudent.
Sirach 20:12–14
12 There is one who buys much for a little, and pays for it again sevenfold. (WEB) 13 He who is wise in words will make himself beloved; but the pleasantries of fools will be wasted. (WEB) 14 The gift of a fool will not profit you, for he looks for repayment many times instead of o… (WEB)
Ecclesiastes 10:11–13
11 If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer. 12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him. 13 The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness.
Proverbs 15:22–24
22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. 23 A man takes joy in a fitting reply— and how good is a timely word! 24 The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may avoid going down to Sheol.
Proverbs 18:20–22
20 From the fruit of his mouth a man’s belly is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. 21 Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
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