Topic
Backbite
8 passages cited, from 2 classic reference works.
These works date from 1897–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Psalms 15:3Easton · ISBE
He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
- Proverbs 25:23Easton · ISBE
The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
- Romans 1:30Easton · ISBE
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
- 2 Corinthians 12:20Easton · ISBE
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
- Wisdom of Solomon 1:11ISBE
Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable; and refrain your tongue from backbiting: for there is no word so secret, that shall go for nought: and the mouth that belieth slayeth the soul.
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 28:14ISBE
A backbiting tongue hath disquieted many, and driven them from nation to nation: strong cities hath it pulled down, and overthrown the houses of great men.
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 28:15ISBE
A backbiting tongue hath cast out virtuous women, and deprived them of their labours.
- 1 Peter 2:1ISBE
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 4 references
In Ps. 15:3, the rendering of a word which means to run about tattling, calumniating; in Prov. 25:23, secret talebearing or slandering; in Rom. 1:30 and 2 Cor. 12:20, evil-speaking, maliciously defaming the absent.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 8 references
bak'-bit raghal; doloo: To slander the absent, like a dog biting behind the back, where one cannot see; to go about as a talebearer. "He that backbiteth [Revised Version, slandereth] not with his tongue" (Ps 15:3).
Backbiters bak'-bit-~rz (Greek katalaloi: Men who speak against. Vulgate, "detractors" (Ro 1:30)).
Backbiting bak'-bit-ing: cether: Adj. "a backbiting tongue"; literally, "a tongue of secrecy" (Pr 25:23). katalalia: substantive "a speaking against" (2Co 12:20; Wisdom 1:11); "evil speaking" (1Pe 2:1). glossa trite: "a backbiting tongue" (the King James Version of Ecclesiasticus 28:14,15); more literally translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "a third person's tongue."
T. Rees
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.