10:6

This proverb contrasts the blessings that righteous people experience with the violent actions that wicked people do to others. The parallel parts “the righteous” and “the wicked” contrast exactly, but the overall contrast is not exact. This kind of partial contrast is fairly common in Hebrew parallelism.

6a
Blessings are on the head of the righteous,

6b but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

In the Hebrew and in the Berean Standard Bible, the lines are arranged chiastically. The underlined parallel parts occur at the beginning of 10:6a and the end of 10:6b.

10:6a

Blessings are on the head of the righteous: In Hebrew, this line is literally “Blessings to/for the head of the righteous.” The plural Blessings indicates all kinds of blessings.

Blessings: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Blessings probably refers here to the benefits or rewards that the LORD gives to righteous people. However, it may also refer to the words of blessing spoken by other people. These people “bless” the righteous by asking the LORD to show them special favor. With either of these interpretations, the LORD is the ultimate source of the blessings.

Since the meaning may include both interpretations, it is recommended that you leave the source of the blessings implied. If your language requires the source of blessing to be made explicit, it is recommended that you specify the LORD. For example:

The LORD gives many blessings to righteous people
-or-
The LORD shows his favor/kindness to righteous people in many ways
-or-
The LORD causes righteous people to experience many benefits

head: This word is used figuratively here. It represents the entire person.

Another way to translate this line is:

Righteous people receive many blessings

righteous: See the note on 10:3a.

10:6b

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence: In Hebrew, this line is literally “the mouth of the wicked covers/conceals violence.” There are two ways to interpret this line:

(1) The mouth of the wicked is the subject of the verb conceals. This line means that wicked people hide their violent intentions or actions by saying good things. For example:

the speech of the wicked conceals violence (Revised English Bible)

(2) The word violence is the subject of the verb covers. This line means that violence will cover or overcome the wicked. For example:

but the wicked will be overwhelmed by violence (New Century Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most versions and scholars. Notice that in the Berean Standard Bible, this line is identical to 10:11b. Some other ways to translate this line are:

but wicked people speak in a way that hides their brutal actions
-or-
but as for wicked people, their words conceal their violent intentions
-or-
but a person who does what is wrong covers up the cruel things that he does by means of what he says

the mouth of the wicked: In this phrase, the mouth is a figure of speech (metonymy). It represents the speech of the wicked, as in the Revised English Bible above.

violence: The word violence refers to physical brutality or cruelty. See the notes on 3:31a and 13:2b.

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