“Faithful are the wounds of a friend” means that a true friend’s criticism or frank speaking (“wounds of a friend”) is based on the sincerity of the friendship. Contemporary English Version says “You can trust a friend who corrects you.”

“Profuse are the kisses of an enemy”: The Revised Standard Version translation follows the Hebrew text, which is given only a “C” rating by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project here. “Profuse” renders a word meaning “plenty” or “abundant.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends translating “but the kisses of the enemy are excessive,” meaning “. . . too many.” However, a number of modern versions follow a suggested slight variation in the letters of the Hebrew word to get “false” or “deceitful” (King James Version, New Jerusalem Bible). Contemporary English Version renders this as “nothing but lies.” For comments on “kiss” see 7.13. For “enemy” refer to 25.21. Note how the contrast between the action in the first line and that in the second is expressed by Good News Translation. Bible en français courant translates “The criticism of a friend proves his loyalty, the kisses of an enemy are deceptive”; it has a footnote on the rendering “are deceptive”: “another translation are too many.”

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 .