The theme of this saying is that words of wisdom or knowledge are more valuable than money or precious stones. There are similar statements about wisdom in 3.13-15 and 8.10-11. The second line extends the sense of the first line; this is a saying of the form “A is true, [and] B is more true.”

“There is gold, and abundance of costly stones”: This line names the things that people value most highly and by which they reckon their wealth. The Hebrew word translated “costly stones” is the same word as “jewels” found in 3.15; see there for comments. Translators are advised to follow the majority of English versions and render this word as “jewels” or “costly stones.” Some versions take “abundance” to mean “of many kinds” or “of every type” (New Jerusalem Bible) rather than “very many.”

“But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel”: “Lips of knowledge” is a literal rendering of the Hebrew, which is quite unnatural in English. New Revised Standard Version “lips informed by knowledge” and New International Version “lips that speak knowledge” are more natural. But “lips” is used as a figure of speech here for “speech” or “words,” and it is better in most languages to use one of these terms. “Speech informed by knowledge” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “sensible words” (Contemporary English Version) are good models. Good News Translation may also be helpful to some translators: “if you know what you are talking about. . ..” “A precious jewel” is literally “article of preciousness [or, honor].” This is sometimes taken to mean “a rare jewel” in the sense that it “is not often found” (Revised English Bible “a rarity”). But having in mind the form of the whole saying, the sense is more likely that the quality referred to in this line is more valuable than the things mentioned in the previous line. Some translations that express this sense are “more precious” (Scott), “more valuable than” (Good News Translation), and “better than” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .