Proverbs 16:28

A perverse person ¹  spreads dissension, and a gossip separates the closest friends. ² 

A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends.

A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.

Troublemakers start fights; gossips break up friendships.

A man of twisted purposes is a cause of fighting everywhere: and he who says evil secretly makes trouble between friends.

A perverse person spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends.

A perverse person ¹  spreads dissension, and a gossip separates the closest friends. ² 

¹ tn Heb “a man of perverse things”; NAB “an intriguer.” This refers to someone who destroys lives. The parallelism suggests that he is a “slanderer” or “gossip” – one who whispers and murmurs (18:8; 26:20, 22).

² tn The term אַלּוּף (’aluf) refers to a “friend” or “an intimate associate.” The word has other possible translations, including “tame” or “docile” when used of animals. Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105, took it in the later sense of “prince,” saying that such speech alienates the Prince, namely God. But that is a forced interpretation of the line.