Proverbs 10:11

“The mouth of a righteous [man is] a well of life, etc.] Like a fountain of living water, continually running and flowing with water, wholesome, reviving, and refreshing; so the righteous man’s mouth, out of the abundance of his heart, overflows with good things, which minister grace to the hearers, and are for the use of edifying; things that are pleasant and profitable, grateful and acceptable, comforting, refreshing, and pleasing, and which tend to the good of the life that now is, and that which is to come; but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked; so that nothing comes out of it but what is pernicious and hurtful; what savours of rapine and violence; nothing but lying and deceit,…”

“a well--or, "source" of good to himself and others (Joh 7:37-38). On last clause, see on Pro 10:6.”

“Compare Proverbs 10:6. Streams of living water (like the “fountain of living waters” of Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13, and the “living water” of John 4:10), flow from the mouth of the righteous, but that of the wicked is “covered,” i. e., stopped and put to silence by their own violence. return to 'Top of Page'”

“10:11 As a fountain provides water that sustains life, the words of the godly give life to those who hear them. In contrast, the violent intentions concealed in the words of the wicked bring death (see also 10:6; Jas 3:1-12).”

“mouth of a: Pro 10:20, Pro 10:21, Pro 10:32, Pro 13:14, Pro 15:7, Pro 16:22-24, Pro 18:4, Pro 20:15; Psa 37:30, Psa 37:31; Eph 4:29 but: Pro 10:6; Psa 107:42; Ecc 10:12-14; Mat 12:34-37; Jam 3:5-8 Proverbs 10:12”

“Another proverb, similar to the half of Pro 10:6 : A fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous; But the mouth of the godless hideth violence. If we understand 11b wholly as 6b: os improborum obteget violentia, then the meaning of 11a would be, that that which the righteous speaks tends to his own welfare (Fl.). But since the words spoken are the means of communication and of intercourse, one has to think of the water as welling up in one, and flowing forth to another; and the meaning of 11b has to accommodate itself to the preceding half proverb, whereby it cannot be mistaken that חמס (violence), which was 6b subj., bears here, by the contrast, the stamp of the obj.; for the possibility…”