Proverbs 18:4

The words of a person’s mouth are like ¹  deep waters, ²  and ³  the fountain of wisdom ⁴  is like ⁵  a flowing brook. ⁶ 

The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

A person’s words can be life–giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.

Many words rush along like rivers in flood, but deep wisdom flows up from artesian springs.

The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters: the fountain of wisdom is like a flowing stream.

The words of the mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a gushing stream.

The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.

The words of a person’s mouth are like ¹  deep waters, ²  and ³  the fountain of wisdom ⁴  is like ⁵  a flowing brook. ⁶ 

¹ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

² sn The metaphor “deep waters” indicates either that the words have an inexhaustible supply or that they are profound.

³ tn There is debate about the nature of the parallelism between lines 4a and 4b. The major options are: (1) synonymous parallelism, (2) antithetical parallelism (e.g., NAB, NIV, NCV) or (3) formal parallelism. Normally a vav (ו) would begin an antithetical clause; the structure and the ideas suggest that the second colon continues the idea of the first half, but in a parallel way rather than as additional predicates. The metaphors used in the proverb elsewhere describe the wise.

⁴ sn This is an implied comparison (hypocatastasis), the fountain of wisdom being the person who speaks. The Greek version has “fountain of life” instead of “wisdom,” probably influenced from 10:11.

⁵ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

⁶ sn The point of this metaphor is that the wisdom is a continuous source of refreshing and beneficial ideas.