The fruitage of the righteous man consists in wise and helpful words and actions, and these become to others a tree of life that feeds body and soul. Also the example of a good man promotes spiritual health and leads to eternal life.

 Heb. loqeach, a form of the verb laqach, “to take.” Only here is laqach translated “win.” It is used more than 700 times in the sense of “to take” or “to take away.” Since the object of the verb here is “souls,” Heb. nephashoth (plural of nephesh), and since nephesh frequently means “life” (Gen. 9:4; Ex. 4:19; etc.), some translate the phrase “he who taketh away lives.” The same combination of Hebrew words is thus translated in 1 Kings 19:4; Ps. 31:13; Prov. 1:19. If such is the intended meaning of the phrase, how can the “takers away of lives” be considered wise? This is the basic problem of the text, and this problem most obviously led the translators of the KJV to employ the unusual rendering, “win,” for laqach. Others follow the LXX, which renders the verse, “Out of the fruit of righteousness grows a tree of life; but the souls of transgressors are cut off before their time.”