Hi Pat!
James said: "If any man among you seem to be religious (ceremonious in worship, pious), and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion (worship) is vain.“ (Jas 1:26) and; “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell (gehenna). For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” (Jam 3:6-12)
Jesus said: “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” (Mat 15:11)
I think Prov 18:21 is speaking of the same principle. “Death and life are in the power (Heb: yâd) of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
The pictograph of the Hebrew word yâd is (sorry, it won't show up here) is a picture of a hand with a picture of a door that allows movement in and out of the tent. Combined these mean "hand moves". The hand is the part of the body that enables man to perform many works.
A) Hand: With the hand one can throw away or grab hold, kill or heal, make or destroy.
B) Hand: The work of the hand.
C) Hand: The throwing out of the hand for throwing, praising, or confessing
I did a quick search on yâd and, unless I missed it, it is only translated ‘power’ in one other place (Joshua 8:20); it is normally translated ‘hand(s)'.
Our tongue (mouth, words) will reveal the state of our hearts and an untamed, unbridled tongue will throw out bitter water that may seem ‘sweet’ to that tongue (at the time) but will be bitter to the stomach (later) (Eze 3:1-3,Rev 10:9-8)! All of this, of course, is SPIRITUAL symbolism. It has nothing to do with being materially ‘rich’ but being spiritually ALIVE in Him and yes, HE is in control and ONLY by/through HIM can that carnal heart be 'destroyed' so that our tongue can be tamed and produce ONLY HIS sweet 'water'.
In His Love, Barbara