Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Be brave, it will not make you burst! Having heard something, the fool suffers birth pangs like a woman in labor with a child. Like an arrow stuck in a person's thigh, so is gossip inside a fool. Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it; or if he did, so that he may not do it again. Question a neighbor; perhaps he did not say it; or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it. Question a friend, for often it is slander; so do not believe everything you hear. 16 A person may make a slip without intending it. Who has not sinned with his tongue? Question your neighbor before you threaten him; and let the law of the Most High take its course. The whole of wisdom is fear of the Lord, and in all wisdom there is the fulfillment of the law.