SUMMARY
The words we speak can have radically different effects.
ANALYSIS
Proverbs 18:4 makes its point by invoking the two radically different effects of water throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Water can be the chaotic, death delivering waters like the floodThe flood refers to the catastrophic deluge in Genesis. In the biblical account Noah, his family, and selected beasts survive the flood in an ark; thereafter they received a rainbow in the sky as a sign of God's promise. Many other cultures also have flood... or the life-giving waters of various rivers and fountains. The words we speak can function in these same ways. See also Proverbs 18:21.