“Lest he who hears you bring shame upon you”: “Lest” introduces the undesirable consequence of not following the advice of the previous verse. “He who hears” may be taken as the offended party in verse 9 whose secrets have been told, or it may refer to someone else who has heard. Good News Translation says “everyone.” “Bring shame upon you” means “cause you to be ashamed.”

“And your ill repute have no end”: “Ill repute” renders a Hebrew word suggesting something whispered or softly spoken, an evil rumor, gossip, or tale. This may refer to what was revealed in the previous verse. Or it may mean what people say about the person who revealed his neighbor’s secret; in this case it may be expressed as “your bad reputation” (New International Version). “Have no end” is literally “does not return” and suggests that the bad gossip continues to circulate endlessly and does not cease. New English Bible/Revised English Bible express this thought “and your indiscretion will then be beyond recall.” We may reword this to say, for example, “and your bad words will never stop going about.” Alternatively we may say something like “you will never regain your good reputation” (New Living Translation).

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .