Jesus' instruction in Matthew 5 is about oaths, and it lands somewhere unexpected: let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay. The argument is that a person who needs to swear an oath has already admitted their ordinary word cannot be trusted.
Proverbs 18:21 makes an enormous claim in nine words — death and life are in the power of the tongue. Not influence. Not damage. Death and life.
Luke 16:10 is the one that reframes small dishonesty: he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. It refuses the distinction between a small lie and a large one, treating them as the same habit at different scales.
The verses
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Proverbs 12:22Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
Open → Ephesians 4:25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Open → Matthew 5:37But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Open → Proverbs 10:9He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.
Open → Proverbs 11:3The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
Open → Colossians 4:6Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
Open → Ephesians 4:29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Open → Proverbs 18:21Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Open → Luke 16:10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Open → Proverbs 20:7The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.
Open → Search this and more on FirstVerseOpen Ephesians 4:29 on FirstVerse. It sits between two verses about anger, which changes how it reads.
Related subjects
Scripture: King James Version, public domain. Last updated August 15, 2026.