TONGUE

ISBE

tung: Almost invariably for either lashon, or glossa the latter word with the cognates heteroglossos, "of strange tongues" ( 1Co 14:21 ), glossodes, "talkative," English Versions of the Bible "full of tongue" (Sirach 8:3; 9:18), glossotomeo, "to cut out the tongue" (2 Macc 7:4), diglossos, "double-tongued" (Sirach 5:9; 28:13). In 1Ti 3:8 , however, "double-tongued" is for dilogos, literally, "two-worded." Where "tongue" in the King James Version translates dialektos ( Ac 1:19 ; 2:8 ; 21:40 ; 22:2 ; 26:14 ), the Revised Version (British and American) has "language," while for the King James Version "in the Hebrew tongue" in Joh 5:2 ; Re 9:11 ; 16:16 (Hebraisti) the Revised Version (British and American) has simply "in Hebrew." In addition, in the Old Testament and Apocrypha, the King James Version uses "to hold one's tongue" as a translation for various verbs meaning "to be silent"; the Revised Version (British and American) in the Old Testament writes "to hold one's peace" and in the Apocrypha "to be silent," except in Sirach 32:8, where the King James Version is retained (siopao). The various uses of "tongue" in English are all possible also for lashon and glossa, whether as the physical organ ( Ex 11:7 ; Mr 7:33 , etc.) or as meaning "language" ( Ge 10:5 ; Ac 2:4 , etc.) or as describing anything shaped like a tongue ( Isa 11:15 ; Ac 2:3 , etc.). In addition, both words, especially lashon appear in a wider range of meanings than can be taken by "tongue" in modern English. So the tongue appears as the specific organ of speech, where we should prefer "mouth" or "lips" ( Ex 4:10 ; Ps 71:24 ; 78:36 ; Pr 16:1 ; Php 2:11 , etc.), and hence, "tongue" is used figuratively for the words uttered ( Job 6:30 ; Ps 139:4 ; 1Joh 3:18 , etc.). So the tongue can be said to have moral qualities ( Ps 109:2 ; Pr 15:4 , etc.) or to be "glad" ( Ac 2:26 ); to "love with the tongue" (1 Joh 3:18 ) is to love in word only, and to be "double-tongued" (Sirach 5:9; 28:13; 1Ti 3:8 is to be a liar. A further expansion of this figurative use has produced expressions that sound slightly bizarre in English, although their meaning is clear enough: e.g., "Who have whet their tongue like a sword" ( Ps 64:3 ); "His tongue is as a devouring fire" ( Isa 30:27 ); "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer" ( Ps 45:1 ), and, especially, "Their tongue walketh through the earth" ( Ps 73:9 ). In Job 20:12 , "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue," the figure is that of an uncultured man rolling a choice morsel around in his mouth so as to extract the utmost flavor. In Ps 10:7 ; 66:17 (Revised Version margin), however "under the tongue" means "in readiness to utter," while in So 4:11 , "Honey and milk are under thy tongue," the pleasure of a caress is described. To "divide their tongue" ( Ps 55:9 ) is to visit on offenders the punishment of Babel. See TONGUES, CONFUSION OF. Burton Scott Easton