58 The word describes a slanderer (), a tale-bearer (, ), or an informer. 940 רָכִיל says the Hebrew expression “goers of slander” means slanderous persons. However, W. McKane observes that these people are not necessarily malicious—they just talk too much (Proverbs [], 537).
59 The form is the Hitpael imperfect (of prohibition or instruction) from עָרַב (’arav). 786–88 lists six roots with these radicals. The first means “to mix,” but only occurs in derivatives. 786 lists this form under the second root, which means “to take on a pledge; to exchange.” The Hitpael is then defined as “to exchange pledges; to have fellowship with [or, share].” The proverb is warning people to have nothing to do with gossips.
60 The verb פֹּתֶה (poteh) is a homonym, related to I פָּתָה (patah, “to be naive; to be foolish”; I פתה) or II פָּתָה (“to open [the lips]; to chatter”; II פתה). So the phrase וּלְפֹתֶה שְׂפָתָיו may be understood either (1) as II פתה suggests, “one opens his lips” = he is always talking/gossiping, or (2) as suggests, “one who is foolish as to his lips” (he lacks wisdom in what he says; see 834 פָּתָה 1, noted in I פתה 1). The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what is said: gossip. If such a person is willing to talk about others, he will be willing to talk about you, so it is best to avoid him altogether.