He that hath a froward heart findeth no good,.... Who is of a perverse spirit, meditates and devises evil things; is not ingenuous and sincere, but false and deceitful to God and men: such an one gets no good from either; he obtains not the favour of God, nor a good name, credit, and reputation among men;
and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief; or "that turns himself", or "is turned in his tongue" (w); whose tongue is changeable, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; who sometimes says one thing, and sometimes another, and is not consistent with himself; as well as is contrary to all men: sooner or later he falls into mischief, into a pit, which he himself has dug for others; see James 3:6.
(w) "qui verterit se", Pagninus; "et verteus se in lingua sua", Montanus; "qui vertitur in lingua sua". Mercerus, Gejerus.

There is nothing got by ill designs. And many have paid dear for an unbridled tongue.

The second clause advances on the first. The ill-natured fail of good, and the cavilling and fault-finding incur evil.

20 He that is of a false heart findeth no good;
And he that goeth astray with his tongue falleth into evil.
Regarding עקּשׁ־לב, vid., Proverbs 11:20. In the parallel member, נהפּך בּלשׁונו is he who twists or winds (vid., at Proverbs 2:12) with his tongue, going about concealing and falsifying the truth. The phrase ונהפּך (the connecting form before a word with a prep.) is syntactically possible, but the Masora designates the word, in contradistinction to ונהפּך, pointed with Pathach, Leviticus 13:16, with לית as unicum, thus requires ונהפּך, as is also found in Codd. The contrast of רעה is here טוב, also neut., as Proverbs 13:21, cf. Proverbs 16:20, and רע, Proverbs 13:17.

No good - Shall not get that advantage which he expects.