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There are some who regard the two clauses of this verse as antithetic. The former indicating hidden depths of evil in the wicked man. "The words of his mouth are as deep waters." That is, he is so full of guile and deceit that you cannot reach his meaning. The latter indicating the transparent communications of the wise and the good. "The wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook." The communications of the one are guileful — the words conceal rather than reveal. The words of the other are honest and lucid. There are others who regard the two clauses as a parallelism. The character of the former clause is to be taken from the latter. The words of a man's mouth — that is, according to the second clause, of a wise man's mouth — are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. We shall use the words thus as a parallelism to illustrate the words of inspired wisdom which are "wise" in the highest sense.

I. THEY ARE FULL. They are as "deep waters." The world abounds with shallow words, mere empty sounds. The words in the general conversation of society and in the popular literature of the day are empty, shells without a kernel, mere husks without grain. But the words of inspired men are full, brimful, full of light and full of power.

1. The greatest thinkers have failed to exhaust their meaning.

2. Every modern thinker discovers new significance. Every paragraph has a continent of thought.

"There lie vast treasures unexplored,

And wonders yet untold."

II. THEY ARE FLOWING. "A flowing brook." The words of eternal truth are always in motion. They pulsate in thousands of souls every hour, and onward is their tendency.

1. They flow from the eternal wellspring of truth.

2. They flow through human channels. Divine wisdom speaks through man as well as through other organs. "Holy men spake as they were moved," etc. The highest teacher was a man, Christ, the Logos. The words of His mouth were indeed as deep waters. Since Heaven has thus made man the organ of wisdom, it behoves man —

(1) Devoutly to realise the honour God has conferred upon his nature;

(2) Earnestly to aspire to the high honour of being a messenger of the Eternal. Man should not only be the student, but the revealer of God.

III. THEY ARE FERTILISING. They are here compared to "waters" and to "a flowing brook." What water is to all physical life the words of heavenly wisdom are to souls. They quicken and satisfy.

1. It is a perennial brook. It has streamed down these centuries, imparting life and beauty in its course.

2. It is an accumulating "brook." As brooks in nature swell into rivers by the confluence of contributory streams, so the brook of Divine truth widens and deepens by every contribution of holy thought. And never was it so broad and deep as now.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

WEB: The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.