This saying is a warning to avoid people who gossip or talk too much.

“He who goes about gossiping reveals secrets”: This is a straightforward observation about human behavior. It is almost identical to the first line of 11.13. See the comments there. The term rendered “gossiping” is almost always used in the bad sense of slander. Many languages will have a term like the noun “a gossip” in English for the person who makes a habit of spreading tales and rumors about others. “Secrets” has the sense of things that people plan or talk about in a private or intimate circle.

“Therefore do not associate with one who speaks foolishly”: “Do not associate” is advice about the wise course of action in light of the observation in the previous line. The Hebrew rendered “one who speaks foolishly” may be either “one who is foolish as to his lips” or “one who opens wide his lips.” Most, including New Revised Standard Version “a babbler,” take it in the second sense; New Jerusalem Bible, for instance, has “chatterers,” Good News Translation “people who talk too much.” Good News Translation is a good model to follow; but many languages have idiomatic expressions for people who talk too much that can be used very appropriately in this context. The negative “do not associate with” may be expressed in various other ways; for example, “avoid” (New International Version), “stay away from” (Good News Translation), and “have nothing to do with” (Revised English Bible).

In some languages this saying flows more naturally if the order of the two lines is reversed; one translation has, for example, “Don’t be friendly with a person who talks all around the place. If you tell secrets to this kind of person, he will tell them to everybody.”

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 .