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).