Proverbs 11:9

With his speech ¹  the godless person ²  destroys ³  his neighbor, but by knowledge ⁴  the righteous will be delivered.

With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbour, but through knowledge the righteous escape.

With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

Evil words destroy one’s friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.

The loose tongue of the godless spreads destruction; the common sense of the godly preserves them.

With his mouth the evil man sends destruction on his neighbour; but through knowledge the upright are taken out of trouble.

With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

¹ tn Heb “with his mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

² sn The Hebrew word originally meant “impious, godless, polluted, profane.” It later developed the idea of a “hypocrite” (Dan 11:32), one who conceals his evil under the appearance of godliness or kindness. This one is a false flatterer.

³ sn The verb שָׁחַת (shakhat) means “to destroy; to ruin” (e.g., the destruction of Sodom in Gen 13:10). The imperfect tense is probably not an habitual imperfect (because the second colon shows exceptions), but probably a progressive imperfect (“this goes on”) or potential imperfect (“they can do this”).

⁴ sn The antithetical proverb states that a righteous person can escape devastating slander through knowledge. The righteous will have sufficient knowledge and perception to see through the hypocrisy and avoid its effect.