This verse opens three portraits of destructive men, Proverbs 16:27–29.
Quick answer
Some evil has to be excavated, and the worthless man does the digging: unearthing dirt, reviving buried offenses. What he digs up he carries on his lips, and it burns.
Read both lines
The verb is the portrait: he digs up evil that was not lying in the road but underground, decently forgotten, and he goes after it with a shovel. "Ungodly man" translates the idiom "a man of Belial," the Old Testament's label for its genuinely destructive characters. The image chain is complete and damning: mined, carried, lit, speech that scorches and spreads the moment it leaves him. Where peace requires leaving some ground undisturbed, this man cannot stop digging.
Related: Proverbs 26:20–21 · James 3:5–6
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.