“A gentle tongue is a tree of life”: “A gentle tongue” is literally “a healing tongue.” The thought expressed here is essentially the same as “a soft answer” in verse 1. The sense is “kind or comforting words.” “A tree of life”, first used in 3.18, may be expressed as a simile, “like a tree that gives life” or, as in Good News Translation, “. . . bring life.” Bible en français courant says “. . . is a source of life.”

“But perverseness in it breaks the spirit”: “Perverseness” renders a word meaning “twisted” or “crooked,” as in 11.3 where “crookedness” is used. Something that is twisted is untrue or false. “Perverseness” parallels and contrasts the “gentle tongue”, not the “tree of life”. In other words false speech or lying “breaks the spirit”, an expression that means “causes despair” or “leads to ruin.” Contemporary English Version translates “Kind words are good medicine, but deceitful words can really hurt.” See Good News Translation also.

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 .