Proverbs 11:11

A city is exalted by the blessing provided from ¹  the upright, but it is destroyed by the counsel ²  of the wicked. ³ 

Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.

By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

Upright citizens bless a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.

When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes; evil talk turns it into a ghost town in no time.

By the blessing of the upright man the town is made great, but it is overturned by the mouth of the evil-doer.

By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

A city is exalted by the blessing provided from ¹  the upright, but it is destroyed by the counsel ²  of the wicked. ³ 

¹ tn Heb “the blessing of the upright.” This expression features either an objective or subjective genitive. It may refer to the blessing God gives the upright (which will benefit society) or the blessing that the upright are to the city. The latter fits the parallelism best: The blessings are the beneficent words and deeds that the righteous perform.

² tn Heb “mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for counsel, as the parallelism suggests.

³ sn What the wicked say has a disastrous effect on society, endangering, weakening, demoralizing, and perverting with malicious and slanderous words. Wicked leaders, in particular, can bring destruction on a city by their evil counsel.