SUMMARY
How one speaks can bring life or death.
ANALYSIS
Proverbs 10:11 speaks of the mouth of the righteousA righteous person is one who is ethical and faithful to God's covenant. Righteousness in the Old Testament is an attitude of God; in the New Testament it is a gift of God through grace. In the New Testament righteousness is a relationship with God... More as “a fountain of life.” Water, when it is a floodThe flood refers to the catastrophic deluge in Genesis. In the biblical account Noah, his family, and selected beasts survive the flood in an ark; thereafter they received a rainbow in the sky as a sign of God's promise. Many other cultures also have flood... More, can bring death, but water can also give life. The contrast of these two different aspects of water is found throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. This imagery of the “Fountain of life” thereby gives weight to what the righteous have to say. (See “The Role of Imagery” entry in Bible in the World – Proverbs.)
