Our Speech

Our Speech

Proverbs 10:11

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life: The mouth is a poetic use of one of the organs of speech and refers to the words or thoughts spoken by the righteous, that is, a good, honest person. Fountain of life is similar to “tree of life” used in Pr. 3:18. See there for comments. The expression is used in Psa 36:9 (Hebrew verse Pr. 10:10), where it refers to God as being the source or creator of all life. In Pr.16:22 Wisdom is a fountain of life. In this verse the expression refers to the words of the righteous, perhaps because such people are identified with the wise and with wisdom. In translation a fountain of life must often be expressed as a simile; for example, “… are like a fountain that gives life.” Fountain renders a word that is also applied to a well dug by people or to a naturally occurring spring.

But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence: See verse Pr. 10:6. The mouth of the wicked parallels and contrasts with the mouth of the righteous. The contrast here, as in verse Pr. 10:6, is between the words of good people, which are compared to a life-giving fountain, and the evil that hides in the words or thoughts of the wicked. We may translate, for example,

  •      The words of good people are like a spring that gives life,but the words of the wicked hide the harm they will do.

Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. A Handbook on Proverbs. New York: United Bible Societies, 2000. Print. UBS Handbook Series.