Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Faithful (marks of true kindness, and for one's true good, Psalms 141:5 ) are the wounds of (i:e., inflicted by) a friend: but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. So Jerome, the Vulgate, and Chaldaic; but Gesenius, as margin, 'frequent,' many: for the kisses of an enemy, we need hardly be told, are deceitful. But the warning in the English version is needful, as one might forget that kisses may be given, and yet all the while be tokens not of love, but of treachery. On the other hand, an enemy does not always give many kisses: Judas gave only one. But his kisses are always "deceitful" - literally, bland, appeased [the Niphal, from `aatar (H6280), to please, to pray].