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A Soft Answer and a Wholesome Tongue
Speech can either cool anger or feed it. The LORD sees both evil and good, and a healing tongue is called a tree of life, making words not a minor etiquette issue but part of Scripture’s recurring life-and-death imagery.
Proverbs 15:4 calls healing speech “a tree of life,” deliberately borrowing Eden’s life-giving image. Wisdom literature thus turns the Genesis symbol into an ethical metaphor: words can strengthen and restore life rather than crush another person’s spirit.
Ecclesiastes 10:4 counsels calm persistence before a ruler’s anger, while Proverbs 15:1 says a soft answer turns away wrath. The shared de-escalation logic supports a wisdom-family correspondence without requiring literary dependence.
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