Bible Strands
Proverbs 18:4
The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The instruction sits between warnings about the contempt brought by a wicked man and the injustice caused by partiality. It addresses a reader evaluating speech and judgment within a community where moral corruption threatens social order.
The words — מַיִם (Ma.yim) translates literally as waters, and עֲמֻקִּים ('Amukkim) means deep. Together they describe the concealed, layered nature of human speech, while מְקוֹר (Mekor) = a fountain and נַחַל (Nachal) = a wadi depict wisdom’s clear, active source.
The thread — The hidden-waters motif for human interiority appears in Proverbs 20:5, where understanding draws out the heart’s intentions. The fountain imagery for speech recurs in Proverbs 10:11, contrasting the righteous mouth as a life-giving source with the wicked mouth that conceals violence.
Why it lands — The text states that human speech contains concealed depths requiring careful examination, while wisdom operates as a visible, continuous flow. It requires a reader to test their own words for hidden complexity and to align their speech with the clear, ongoing source of wisdom rather than hidden agendas.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 20:5 The intentions of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.
- Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
- Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- Proverbs 13:14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one from the snares of death.
- John 4:14 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- John 7:38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
- Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
- Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
- Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
- Proverbs 16:22 Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessor, but the discipline of fools is folly.