Judges 12:4

By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.

Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.

He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him?

She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Micaiah said, “As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak.”

But Yahweh’s angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?

Elisha said, “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you.

Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.

A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God sends you to tell us.

But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.

If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”

At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.

God has delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb! What was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that.

They replied, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them, and answer them with good words, then they will be your servants forever.”

They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.

He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.

the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”

Now Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for Yahweh has called for a famine. It will also come on the land for seven years.”

Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands.

Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.

Take reproach and contempt away from me, for I have kept your statutes.

As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.

A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.

Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.

Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.

The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, of evil, and of pestilence.

because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.

Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”

It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain.

God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:

And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

Sarai said to Abram, “This wrong is your fault. I gave my servant into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, she despised me. May Yahweh judge between me and you.”

and Yahweh’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which Yahweh gives you.

The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahweh will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.”

The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, “Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle.”

The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell.

David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?”

Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.

The king swore, and said, “As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

“When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,

As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn’t find you.

Elijah said, “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”

But he said, “As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He urged him to take it; but he refused.

They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow. They were of Saul’s relatives of the tribe of Benjamin.

“Hear, our God; for we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head. Give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity.

You will destroy those who speak lies. Yahweh abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.

Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.

An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.

The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.

Therefore Yahweh says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them.

Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says Yahweh.

for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes.

If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.

They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”

The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”

The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah,

When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”

Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

He said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”

They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

They asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?

These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.