Proverbs 16: You plan, but God decides | Bible study
People make lots of plans, but God has the last word on what really happens. So the wise way to live is to trust Him, not be proud, be fair, and use kind words.
Proverbs 16:1
People plan what they want to say. But God decides which words finally come out and what they do.
A person lays out the thoughts of the heart,
People are the ones who think things through and line up what they intend to say or do. That arranging is real and it is ours.
but what the tongue finally answers comes from the LORD.
The contrast is between what you prepare and what actually comes out and takes effect. You can rehearse a speech, but the word that is finally spoken and what it achieves are in God's hands, not yours.
מערך · ma'arak · arrangement
From arak, to set in rows, used for drawing up troops for battle or laying out wood on an altar. The picture is thoughts carefully lined up in order.
לב · lev · mind, inner self
In Hebrew the heart is where you think and decide, not only where you feel.
מענה · ma'aneh · answer, reply
From anah, to answer. The same noun returns in verse 4, where it is translated 'purpose'.
לשון · lashon · tongue
The organ of speech, standing for the words actually spoken.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
God's personal name. It appears in nine of the first eleven verses of this chapter, which is why these sayings were gathered here.
Proverbs 16:2
Everything we do looks fine to us. But God looks deeper and sees why we really did it.
Everything a man does looks pure in his own eyes,
We are poor judges of ourselves. Almost anything we do can be made to look innocent when we are the ones looking.
but the LORD weighs the spirits.
God does not go by how the action looks. He puts the inner drive behind it on the scale. The contrast is between our eyes, which see the surface of our conduct, and his scale, which measures what moved us.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
A road, and so a person's conduct. Here it is plural: all the courses a person takes.
זך · zak · pure, clear
Used of pure olive oil for the lampstand (Exodus 27:20). Unmixed, with nothing cloudy in it.
תכן · takan · weigh, measure
To measure out or test by weight. God is pictured as holding a scale.
רוח · ruach · breath, spirit
The Hebrew is plural, 'spirits'. Ruach is breath or wind, and so the inner drive that moves a person to act.
'Motives' interprets a word that is literally 'spirits'. The same thought with 'hearts' in place of 'spirits' appears in Proverbs 21:2.
Proverbs 16:3
Hand your work over to God and trust Him with it. Then your plans will stand firm.
Roll what you do onto the LORD,
The command is to hand your work over to God the way you would roll a heavy load off yourself onto someone stronger. It means doing the work in dependence on him rather than carrying the outcome alone.
and your plans will be made firm.
This is the result. Plans handed over to God are the ones that stand. The line does not promise that every scheme succeeds, but that what is entrusted to him is given a solid footing.
גלל · galal · roll
Literally to roll, as one rolls a large stone (Genesis 29:10). The same picture of rolling a burden onto God is in Psalm 37:5.
מעשה · ma'aseh · deeds, work
What you do or make, from asah, to do. The undertaking itself, not only the wish.
מחשבה · machashavah · thought, design
From chashav, to think or reckon. A worked-out intention. The verb returns in verse 9.
כון · kun · be made firm
To be set up firmly so that it stands. The same verb is used of steps in verse 9 and of a throne in verse 12.
'Commit' is literally 'roll'. The picture is of shifting a weight too heavy for you onto the LORD.
Proverbs 16:4
God made everything with an ending that fits it. Even bad people have a day of trouble waiting for them.
The LORD has made everything to answer its purpose,
Nothing that exists is loose or unaccounted for in God's world. Everything has an end that corresponds to it.
even the wicked person, for the day of disaster.
This is the hardest case, taken on purpose. The wicked seem to escape the order of things, but they do not: the day of calamity is the end that matches them. The verse says their judgment is certain, not that God made them wicked.
פעל · pa'al · do, make, work
To work or accomplish. A poetic word for making, used of God's deeds.
מענה · ma'aneh · answer
The same noun as 'answer' in verse 1. Each thing is made for what answers to it, its fitting counterpart or end.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The person in the wrong before God and others, the standing opposite of the righteous in Proverbs.
רעה · ra'ah · harm, calamity
Here not moral evil but disaster. The 'day of evil' is the day when trouble falls.
The Hebrew can be read 'for its purpose' or 'for his purpose', and the word is literally 'answer'. Either way the point is that everything, the wicked included, meets its fitting end under God.
Proverbs 16:5
God hates it when someone has a proud heart. You can be sure that person will be punished.
Everyone whose heart is lifted high is detestable to the LORD;
The target is the inner attitude, a heart that sets itself above others and above God. No outward act is mentioned. The pride itself is what God finds repulsive.
you can shake hands on it: he will not be let off.
This adds certainty to the first line. However secure the proud person looks, he will not be declared innocent. It is as sure as a deal sealed with a handshake.
גבה לב · gevah lev · high of heart
Literally 'high of heart'. Hebrew pictures pride as height. The same root gives the 'haughty spirit' of verse 18.
תועבה · to'evah · something detestable
The strongest word of disgust in the Old Testament, used for idolatry and dishonest scales. Returns in verse 12.
יד ליד · yad leyad · hand to hand
Literally 'hand to hand'. Most likely a handshake that seals a matter, so: you may be certain. The same idiom is in Proverbs 11:21.
נקה · naqah · be clear, acquitted
To be clean or free of guilt. With 'not' it means he will not be held innocent.
Proverbs 16:6
Faithful love and truth are how wrong things get forgiven. And when you respect God deeply, you stay away from doing bad.
Through loyal love and faithfulness guilt is covered,
Guilt is dealt with by steady love and reliability, not by ritual alone. The line is brief and does not say whose loyalty is meant: it fits both God's faithful love that forgives and the changed, faithful life of the one who has done wrong.
and through the fear of the LORD a person turns away from evil.
The first line deals with wrong already done; this one deals with wrong not yet done. Taking God seriously is what keeps a person from going back to it.
חסד · chesed · loyal love
Love that keeps its commitments. Far stronger than a feeling of pity.
אמת · emet · faithfulness, reliability
From a root meaning firm. Truth in the sense of being dependable. Chesed and emet are a fixed pair, as in Exodus 34:6.
כפר · kaphar · cover, atone
The verb behind Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It returns in verse 14, where a wise person 'appeases' a king's anger.
עון · avon · guilt, iniquity
Wrong that is twisted or bent, together with the guilt it leaves behind.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
The foundation of the book (1:7). Here it works as a guard: awe of God keeps a person off the wrong road.
סור · sur · turn aside
To turn off a road. The same verb is used in verse 17.
Interpreters differ on whose 'mercy and truth' are meant. Some take them as God's, the ground of forgiveness. Others take them as the person's, the loyal and honest conduct that shows repentance is real. The Hebrew does not specify.
Proverbs 16:7
When God is pleased with the way you live, He can make even your enemies be at peace with you.
When the LORD is pleased with a man's ways,
This sets the condition. The first concern is not what other people think of your conduct but whether God accepts it.
he makes even that man's enemies be at peace with him.
This is the result, and it is unexpected. You do not win over an enemy by managing him. A life that pleases God is the kind that God can use to disarm hostility. It is a general pattern, not a guarantee in every case.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The person's conduct as a whole, as in verse 2. There it looked pure to the man; here it is pleasing to the LORD.
רצה · ratsah · accept, be pleased with
To accept with pleasure. The verb behind ratson, the 'delight' of verse 13 and the 'favor' of verse 15.
אויב · oyev · enemy
One who is actively hostile. The word 'even' marks how far the effect reaches.
שלם · shalam · be at peace
The verb from shalom, wholeness. The form means to cause to be at peace.
The subject of the second line is not spelled out in Hebrew. It is usually taken as the LORD, but it could be the man himself, whose conduct wins his enemies over.
Proverbs 16:8
It is better to have only a little and do what is right than to get lots of money by being unfair.
A little that is got rightly is better
A small income with a clear conscience is the better choice. The saying assumes that doing right can cost you money.
than large profits made without justice.
The comparison is weighted on purpose: little against much. Even so the small honest amount wins, because wealth gained by wronging people carries guilt and God's opposition with it.
מעט · me'at · a small amount
A small quantity. The contrast with 'great' in the next line is deliberate.
צדקה · tsedaqah · right conduct
Doing what is right toward God and people. Here it means the honest way the little was earned.
תבואה · tevu'ah · produce, yield
What comes in, first of all a harvest, and so revenue of any kind.
משפט · mishpat · justice (here, without it)
The Hebrew says 'without mishpat', without what is just. Gain that no fair judge would approve.
Proverbs 16:9
In your mind you plan where you will go. But God is the one who guides each step you take.
A person's heart works out his road,
People really do plan. The heart reckons the route, and Proverbs elsewhere praises careful planning.
but the LORD makes his step firm.
The contrast is between the whole road, which we map in our heads, and the single step, which is where life actually happens. Whether each step lands and holds is decided by God. This is the theme of verse 1 again, moved from speech to action.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The same word as 'heart' in verse 1. English versions switch between heart and mind; Hebrew has one word for both.
חשב · chashav · think out, reckon
To calculate or devise. The noun from it is the 'plans' of verse 3.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The whole route a person intends to take.
כון · kun · make firm
The verb of verse 3. God is the one who gives the step a firm footing.
צעד · tsa'ad · a step, pace
A single pace. Singular in Hebrew: his step.
Proverbs 16:10
When a king decides something, it counts as if God had decided it. So he must never judge unfairly.
An oracle rests on the lips of a king;
When the king gives a ruling it carries final weight, as if it were a decision from God. He is the last court of appeal, so his word settles the matter.
in judgment his mouth must not prove false.
Because his word has that weight, he has no room to betray justice. The second line draws the duty out of the first: the greater the authority of a verdict, the more serious it is to give a wrong one.
קסם · qesem · oracle, divination
Everywhere else this word means divination, which Israel was forbidden to practise (Deuteronomy 18:10). Only here is it used in a good sense, for a decision with the authority of an oracle.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lips as the place a verdict is spoken.
מלך · melek · king
The first of six verses about the king. In Israel the king was the highest judge.
מעל · ma'al · act unfaithfully
Stronger than making a mistake. It means to break faith or commit treachery, as in a breach of trust against God.
משפט · mishpat · verdict, justice
A legal decision, and the justice it should embody.
The second line can be a statement (his mouth does not betray justice) or an obligation (it must not). Since Proverbs knows very well that kings can do wrong (verse 12), the line is best heard as describing what a king is supposed to be.
Proverbs 16:11
Honest scales for weighing things belong to God. He cares about every single weight a seller keeps in the bag.
Honest balance and scales are the LORD's;
Fair measurement in the market is not just a human convention or the king's regulation. God owns the standard. Cheating a customer is therefore an offence against him.
every weight in the pouch is his work.
This takes the first line down to the smallest detail. Each stone a merchant carries is God's business. Placed among the king sayings, it tells the king that the standard of justice is above him too.
פלס · peles · balance, scale
A weighing instrument, probably the beam of the balance. It occurs only here and in Isaiah 40:12.
מאזנים · moznayim · pair of scales
The two pans of a balance. In Hebrew the word 'justice' (mishpat) is attached to them: scales of justice.
אבן · even · stone
Literally stones. Weights were shaped stones of a fixed standard.
כיס · kis · pouch
The merchant's pouch in which the weight stones were carried.
מעשה · ma'aseh · his work
Literally 'his work', the noun translated 'works' in verse 3. The weights are something God himself made and so cares about.
Goods and silver were weighed on a hand balance against stone weights kept in a pouch. A dishonest trader could carry two sets, a heavy one for buying and a light one for selling, which the law forbids in Deuteronomy 25:13-15.
Proverbs 16:12
It is a terrible thing when a king does wrong. A king's rule only stays strong when it is built on doing right.
Doing wrong is detestable for kings,
Wickedness and kingship do not belong together. A king who does wrong, or tolerates it, is doing something as repulsive in a ruler as pride is to the LORD in verse 5.
because a throne is made firm by righteousness.
This gives the reason. A king's rule does not finally rest on force or cleverness. It lasts only when it is built on doing right, so injustice saws at the legs of his own throne.
תועבה · to'evah · something detestable
The word of verse 5. There it was what the LORD detests; here it is what is detestable where kings are concerned.
מלך · melek · king
Plural: this holds for any king, not one in particular.
רשע · resha · wickedness
The noun from the same root as 'the wicked' in verse 4. Conduct that is in the wrong.
כסא · kisse · seat of rule
The royal seat, standing for the king's reign and its survival.
כון · kun · be made firm
The verb of verses 3 and 9. What makes plans and steps firm is the LORD; what makes a throne firm is righteousness.
צדקה · tsedaqah · right conduct
Right dealing, especially in how the ruler treats his people. The same statement is made of the throne in Proverbs 25:5.
The first line is ambiguous in Hebrew. It can mean that it is detestable for kings to do wrong themselves, or that kings detest wrongdoing in others. Both fit the second line.
Proverbs 16:13
Good kings are glad to hear honest words. They love a person who tells the truth.
Honest lips are what kings take pleasure in,
A good ruler wants to be told the truth. Advisers who speak what is right are the ones he values, because he cannot govern well on flattery.
and he loves the one who speaks straight.
This says the same thing more warmly, moving from pleasure to love. It also tells the reader how to behave around power: straight talk, not flattery, is what a worthy king rewards.
צדק · tsedeq · what is right
Lips of tsedeq are lips that say what is right and true.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Verse 10 spoke of the king's lips. This verse turns to the lips of those who speak to him.
רצון · ratson · pleasure, favor
What someone is pleased with. The same word is 'favor' in verse 15.
מלך · melek · king
Again plural, a general statement of what good kings are like.
ישר · yashar · straight, upright
Literally straight. Straight speech has no bend in it.
אהב · ahav · love
To love. The honest speaker gains the king's real affection, not only his approval.
Proverbs 16:14
An angry king is as scary as a message that someone must die. But a wise person knows how to calm him down.
A king's rage is a messenger of death,
A king had the power of life and death, so his anger was as good as a death sentence already on its way. When he is furious, the executioner has in effect been sent.
but a wise man will calm it.
The contrast is between the danger and the skill that meets it. A wise person does not answer rage with rage or run from it. He knows how to soothe it, and so saves lives, perhaps his own.
חמה · chemah · heat, rage
From a root meaning to be hot. Burning anger.
מלך · melek · king
The king as holder of the power to execute.
מלאך · mal'ak · messenger
One who is sent. The same word is used for angels. Here they are the men a king sends to carry out a death sentence.
מות · mavet · death
The next verse answers this word with its opposite, life.
חכם · chakam · wise, skilled
The person with chokmah, skill at living. Here the skill is knowing how to handle a dangerous superior.
כפר · kaphar · cover, pacify
The verb translated 'atonement is made' in verse 6. To cover over anger so that it no longer threatens.
An ancient king's word could have a man executed the same day, with no appeal. Courtiers lived close to that danger, which is why wisdom teaching for court officials spends time on how to face royal anger.
Proverbs 16:15
When the king smiles at you, life is good. His kindness is like a cloud bringing spring rain to the fields.
When the king's face lights up, there is life,
This is the opposite of verse 14. A bright face means the king is pleased, and his pleasure means safety, promotion and well-being for the one he looks at.
and his favor is like a cloud that brings the late rain.
The comparison explains how much his goodwill is worth. The spring rain cloud was the sign that the crop would fill out and the harvest would be good. The king's favor promises the same kind of prosperity.
אור · or · light
A shining face is a pleased, kindly face. The same picture is used of God in the priestly blessing (Numbers 6:25).
פנים · panim · face, presence
The face shows the mood, and also means a person's presence.
חיים · chayyim · life
Set against the 'death' of verse 14. The same king holds both.
רצון · ratson · pleasure, favor
The word translated 'delight' in verse 13. Honest lips are what earn it.
עב · av · thick cloud
A dark, heavy rain cloud.
מלקוש · malqosh · late rain
The last rains of the wet season, in March and April.
Israel's rain falls from autumn to spring. The late rain comes just as the grain heads are filling, and a good harvest depends on it. A cloud at that season was the most welcome sight a farmer could see.
Proverbs 16:16
Getting wisdom is far better than getting gold! If you must choose, pick understanding over silver.
How much better to get wisdom than gold!
Wisdom is treated as something you acquire, and it is rated above the most valuable metal. Gold can be lost and cannot tell you how to live. Wisdom can do both: keep you and guide you.
And getting understanding is to be chosen over silver.
The second line repeats the claim with the paired terms, understanding and silver. It also turns it into a decision: when the two compete for your effort, pick understanding.
קנה · qanah · get, buy
To acquire, often by purchase. Wisdom costs effort, and the verse says it is the better buy.
חכמה · chokmah · skill at living
Practical skill in living well before God.
חרוץ · charuts · gold
A poetic word for gold, used several times in Proverbs alongside silver (3:14, 8:10, 8:19).
בינה · binah · insight
The ability to tell one thing from another, from bin, to discern.
בחר · bachar · choose
To select after weighing the options. The form here means 'to be chosen', that is, preferable.
כסף · keseph · silver, money
Silver was the ordinary money of the time, weighed out in payment.
Proverbs 16:17
People who do right travel a road that keeps away from bad things. Watch where you walk and you keep your life safe.
The highway of upright people is turning away from evil;
The life of the upright is pictured as a built-up main road. What makes it a highway is one consistent habit: steering clear of what is evil. Avoiding wrong is their route, not an occasional detour.
whoever guards his road keeps his life.
This gives the benefit. Paying attention to where you are walking is how you stay alive. The two guarding verbs sit side by side in Hebrew: guard the road and you have guarded yourself.
מסלה · mesillah · raised road
From a verb meaning to heap up. A road built up and cleared of stones, as opposed to a rough track.
ישר · yashar · straight, upright
Straight people. The same root as the straight speech of verse 13.
סור · sur · turn aside
The verb of verse 6, where fear of the LORD is what makes a person turn from evil.
נצר · natsar · guard, watch over
To keep watch like a guard on a wall.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
His own course of life, the thing he has to keep watching.
שמר · shamar · keep, preserve
To keep safe. A near synonym of natsar, placed right next to it in the Hebrew line.
Proverbs 16:18
First comes pride, then comes a crash. People who think they are greater than everyone are about to trip and fall.
Pride comes before a crash,
The order is the point. First comes the pride, then the breaking. Pride makes a person stop listening, stop checking and stop depending on God, so the collapse is already on the way.
and a spirit held high comes before a fall.
The second line says the same thing with a picture. A person walking with his head in the air does not see what is at his feet, and trips.
גאון · ga'on · loftiness, pride
From a root meaning to rise up. Here it is self-exaltation.
שבר · shever · a breaking
From shavar, to break, as a bone or a pot is broken. A shattering collapse.
גבה רוח · govah ruach · height of spirit
Literally 'height of spirit', from the same root as the 'high of heart' in verse 5.
כשלון · kishalon · a stumble, fall
From kashal, to stumble or stagger. The noun occurs only here.
The familiar English saying 'pride goes before a fall' joins the two lines into one. In the verse, pride goes before destruction, and the haughty spirit before the fall.
Proverbs 16:19
It is better to live among poor people and not show off than to share piles of treasure with proud people who grabbed it.
Better to be low in spirit among the afflicted
After the warning comes the choice. It is better to take the humble place and live among people who have little and are pushed down.
than to share out plunder with the proud.
The proud here are winners dividing what they have seized. The saying admits that their side looks better off, and still calls the humble company the better choice, because verse 18 has just said where the proud are heading.
שפל רוח · shephal ruach · low of spirit
Literally 'low of spirit', the exact opposite of the 'height of spirit' in verse 18.
ענוים · anavim · humble, afflicted
The Hebrew tradition preserves two closely related forms here, one meaning afflicted and the other humble. Both describe people who are brought low.
חלק · chalaq · divide, share out
To apportion, as victors share out what they have taken.
שלל · shalal · plunder
What is carried off after a battle or a robbery. The same word as the gang's loot in Proverbs 1:13.
גאה · ge'eh · proud, lofty
From the same root as ga'on, pride, in verse 18.
Proverbs 16:20
Listen carefully to what you are taught and good things will come. Whoever trusts God is truly happy.
Whoever gives wise attention to a matter will find good,
The person who handles what is said to him with thought and skill comes out well. Success here is the fruit of paying careful attention.
and how happy is the one who trusts in the LORD.
This line goes a step further than the first. Careful attention is good, but the deeper source of well-being is reliance on God. Skill and trust belong together, and trust is put last as the weightier one.
שכל · sakal · act with insight
To look at something with understanding and so deal with it successfully. The same verb is behind 'instructs' in verse 23, and its noun is the 'understanding' of verse 22.
דבר · davar · word, matter
Means both a spoken word and a matter or affair.
טוב · tov · good, benefit
Good in the sense of what benefits: a good outcome.
אשרי · ashrei · how happy
An exclamation: how fortunate! The word that opens Psalm 1.
בטח · batach · rely on, feel secure
To lean your weight on something and feel safe. The verb behind betach, security.
'The word' can also be translated 'a matter'. On one reading the verse praises the one who heeds instruction, perhaps God's word. On the other it praises the one who handles any affair prudently. The Hebrew allows both.
Proverbs 16:21
People can tell when someone is wise inside. And sweet, pleasant words help others learn from you.
The wise of heart gets a name for discernment,
Real wisdom inside a person becomes known. Others come to recognise him as someone who sees clearly, and that reputation is earned.
and sweet lips add to what is learned.
This adds a second thing. Being right is not enough to teach anyone. When wisdom is spoken pleasantly, people take in more of it, so gracious speech makes instruction more effective.
חכם לב · chakam lev · wise of heart
Wisdom that is seated in the heart, the centre of thought and choice, not put on for show.
נבון · navon · discerning
From bin, to discern. The person who can tell things apart.
מתק · meteq · sweetness
From the root for sweet, the same root as the 'sweet' honey of verse 24.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Literally 'lips': sweetness of lips.
לקח · leqach · learning, what is received
From laqach, to take. It is what the hearer takes in, and so teaching that is accepted. The same word ends verse 23.
The last word means 'what is received'. Some versions render it as learning or instruction, others as persuasiveness. The idea is the same: pleasant speech increases how much the hearer takes in.
Proverbs 16:22
Understanding is like a spring of fresh water that gives life to whoever has it. But fools are only taught by the mess their own foolishness makes.
Good sense is a spring of life to the one who has it,
Insight keeps supplying its owner with what he needs to live well, the way a spring keeps giving water in a dry land. It comes from inside and does not run out.
but the discipline of fools is their folly.
This is the contrast. Fools have no such spring. The only schooling they get is their own foolishness and the painful results it brings. On another reading, trying to correct them is itself a foolish waste.
שכל · sekel · good sense, insight
The noun from sakal (verse 20): the practical insight that makes a person act well.
מקור · maqor · spring, source
A spring of flowing water. 'Spring of life' is a repeated picture in Proverbs (10:11, 13:14, 14:27).
חיים · chayyim · life
Life in its full sense, not bare survival.
בעל · ba'al · owner
Literally 'its owners'. Insight is spoken of as a possession.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
Normally a good word for the correction that makes a person wise. Here it is bitterly applied to fools.
אויל · evil · stubborn fool
The fool who has decided not to be taught.
אולת · ivvelet · folly
The noun from the same root as evil. Fools and folly sound nearly alike in Hebrew.
The second line is very short in Hebrew: 'and the discipline of fools, folly'. It may mean that folly is the punishment fools receive, or that trying to discipline fools is folly.
Proverbs 16:23
A wise person thinks before speaking. So what they say teaches people and is easy to believe.
The heart of a wise man makes his mouth sensible
Good speech starts further back than the mouth. A wise person's inner thinking governs what he says, so his words are considered before they are spoken.
and adds to the learning on his lips.
The result is the same as in verse 21: what he says can be taken in by others. Words that have first passed through a wise heart teach more and convince more.
לב · lev · mind, inner self
The source. Verse 1 said the heart arranges its thoughts; here a wise heart trains the mouth.
חכם · chakam · wise, skilled
The one who has chokmah.
שכל · sakal · give insight to
The verb of verse 20, here in the sense of making something act with insight.
פה · peh · mouth
The mouth as the outlet of the heart.
לקח · leqach · learning, what is received
The closing word of verse 21 repeated. The two verses are a pair.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Where the learning sits, ready to be passed on.
Proverbs 16:24
Kind words are like honey. They taste sweet inside you and make your whole body feel better.
Kind words are honey dripping from the comb,
Pleasant speech is compared with the sweetest and most nourishing thing the ancient world had. It is something a person is glad to receive.
sweet to the soul and healing for the bones.
The line spells out two effects. Kind words please the inner person and they also restore the body. Honey was both food and remedy, and good words work the same way on someone who is worn down.
נעם · no'am · pleasantness, kindness
Delightfulness, graciousness. The Hebrew is 'words of pleasantness'.
צוף דבש · tsuph devash · flowing honey
Devash is honey and tsuph is the comb or the honey that drips from it. The freshest honey there is.
מתוק · matoq · sweet
The adjective from the same root as the 'sweetness' of verse 21.
נפש · nephesh · self, appetite
The living self with its desires. It also means throat or appetite, which suits the honey picture.
מרפא · marpe · healing, remedy
From rapha, to heal.
עצם · etsem · bone
The bones stand for the body's frame and strength. Compare the dried bones of Proverbs 17:22.
With no refined sugar, honey was the chief sweetener and was also valued as a medicine. Jonathan's eyes brightened after a taste of it when he was exhausted (1 Samuel 14:27).
Proverbs 16:25
A road can look right to you and still end in death.
There is a road that looks straight to a man,
A course of life can seem right to the person on it. The feeling of being right is real, and it proves nothing.
but where it ends is the roads of death.
The contrast is between how a road looks at the start and where it comes out. A road has to be judged by its destination. This is why a person's own view of his ways (verse 2) cannot be the final test.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The word appears twice in the verse: one road at the start, and at the end 'roads of death', plural.
ישר · yashar · straight
Straight, and so right. The road looks straight to the traveller.
אחרית · acharit · end, outcome
The latter part, what something comes to at last. Proverbs often tells its reader to judge a thing by its acharit.
מות · mavet · death
The final destination of the road that only looked right.
This verse is word for word the same as Proverbs 14:12. The repetition shows how much weight the collectors gave it.
Proverbs 16:26
A worker's hungry tummy helps him along. It keeps pushing him to get the job done.
A labourer's appetite labours for him,
Hunger is on the worker's side. His need to eat does part of the work for him, because it gets him up and keeps him at the task.
because his mouth presses him on.
This gives the reason. An empty mouth is a hard taskmaster that will not let him stop. The saying observes that need is a useful driver of honest work.
עמל · amel · toiler
One who toils. The noun and the verb in this line are the same root, so the Hebrew plays on it: the toiler's appetite toils.
נפש · nephesh · self, appetite
The word translated 'soul' in verse 24. Its basic sense includes throat and hunger.
עמל · amal · toil, labour
Hard, wearying work.
פה · peh · mouth
Literally 'his mouth'. The mouth that wants feeding.
אכף · akaph · press, drive
To press hard upon. The verb occurs only here in the Old Testament.
Proverbs 16:27
A good-for-nothing person digs around for bad things to use against others. His words burn like fire.
A good-for-nothing man digs up trouble,
The first of four portraits. This person works at harm the way a man digs a pit or a well. He goes looking for damaging things and brings them to the surface.
and on his lips it is like a searing fire.
What he digs up he then spreads by talking. His words burn whatever they touch: reputations, trust, peace. The first line shows the effort, the second the weapon.
איש בליעל · ish beliyya'al · man of worthlessness
Beliyya'al is usually explained as 'without worth'. It describes a destructive, lawless person, as in Proverbs 6:12.
כרה · karah · dig
To dig, as one digs a well or a pit. A pit dug to trap someone is a common picture (Proverbs 26:27).
רעה · ra'ah · harm, trouble
Harm or mischief. The same word ends verse 30, closing the four portraits.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Literally 'on his lip'. Compare the healing lips of verses 21 to 24.
אש צרבת · esh tsarevet · burning fire
Esh is fire. Tsarevet is from a root meaning to scorch, also used for the scar a burn leaves (Leviticus 13:23).
Proverbs 16:28
A twisted person starts fights everywhere. Someone who whispers mean stories about people can split up best friends.
A twisted man lets strife loose,
The second portrait. This person turns things upside down, and wherever he goes he sets quarrels going, as if releasing them on purpose.
and a whisperer drives close friends apart.
The second line shows one way it is done. Quiet talk behind backs can split even the closest friends, because it poisons trust without ever being said openly.
תהפכות · tahpukot · things turned upside down
From haphak, to overturn. A 'man of tahpukot' twists truth and order around. The word returns in verse 30.
שלח · shalach · send out, let loose
To send. Used of letting animals loose or sending fire into a field.
מדון · madon · contention
From din, to judge or contend. Quarrelling of the kind that ends in disputes.
נרגן · nirgan · whisperer, grumbler
One who murmurs behind others' backs. Proverbs 26:20 says a quarrel dies down where there is no nirgan.
פרד · parad · divide, part
To split apart what was joined.
אלוף · alluph · intimate friend
A trusted companion, one you are at home with. The same phrase closes Proverbs 17:9.
Proverbs 16:29
A person who likes to hurt others talks his neighbor into joining him. He leads him down a bad road.
A violent man lures his neighbor
The third portrait. The violent person is not content to do wrong alone. He recruits, and he does it by persuasion, making the wrong sound attractive.
and walks him down a road that is not good.
The harm is that he takes someone else onto his road. 'Not good' is an understatement for a road that ends in ruin. This is the scene of Proverbs 1:10-14 in a single saying.
חמס · chamas · violence, wrong
Brutal wrongdoing against others. The word that describes the earth before the flood (Genesis 6:11).
פתה · patah · lure, seduce
From the root of peti, the naive person. It is the verb used of sinners in Proverbs 1:10.
רע · rea · neighbor, companion
The person next to you: a friend, associate or fellow citizen.
הלך · halak · walk, go
The ordinary verb to walk, here in the form that means to make someone walk.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The road again. Verse 25 warned that a road can look right and end in death.
Proverbs 16:30
Watch for the person who winks while planning something sneaky. When he presses his lips tight, he has made up his mind to do wrong.
The one who narrows his eyes is thinking up twisted things;
The fourth portrait is recognised by his face. The half-closed eyes belong to someone working out a scheme, or passing a signal to a partner.
the one who presses his lips together has already settled on harm.
The second gesture marks the next stage. The first line shows the plan being formed; here the mind is made up and the harm is as good as done. The saying teaches the reader to read such signs.
עצה · atsah · shut, narrow
To shut or screw up the eyes. The verb occurs only here.
חשב · chashav · think out, reckon
The verb of verse 9, where the heart plans its road. Here the planning is malicious.
תהפכות · tahpukot · things turned upside down
The word of verse 28. The quiet schemer and the open troublemaker are after the same thing.
קרץ · qarats · pinch, nip
To pinch together. Used of winking the eye in Proverbs 6:13 and 10:10.
כלה · kalah · complete, finish
The verb is kalah, to bring to completion. He has finished the harm, at least in his own mind.
Proverbs 16:31
Gray hair is like a beautiful crown. People get it by living a long life of doing right.
Grey hair is a splendid crown;
Old age is treated as an honor to be worn, not a loss to be hidden. The grey head is compared with the wreath given to someone publicly honored.
it is found on the road of righteousness.
This line says where that crown is come by. Long life is presented as what a righteous course of life normally leads to, so grey hair is a mark of a life well walked. It is a general pattern, not a rule without exceptions.
שיבה · seivah · grey hair, old age
Grey hair, and so old age itself. Leviticus 19:32 commands rising in the presence of the seivah.
עטרה · atarah · crown, wreath
A crown or garland of honor. The same word opens Proverbs 17:6.
תפארת · tiph'eret · beauty, splendor
Beauty that brings honor. The Hebrew phrase is 'crown of splendor'.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The road once more, set against the 'way that is not good' two verses earlier.
צדקה · tsedaqah · right conduct
The road of doing right, the opposite of the roads of death in verse 25.
In ancient Israel the old were honored as those who had lived long enough to gain wisdom, and elders governed the town. A long life was also seen as a gift God gives to the upright.
Proverbs 16:32
Being slow to get angry is better than being a mighty soldier. Ruling your own temper is greater than capturing a whole city.
Someone slow to anger is better than a warrior,
Patience is rated above military strength. Holding back anger takes more power than winning a fight, though it wins no public praise.
and one who governs his own spirit is better than one who takes a city.
The comparison is pushed to its height. Capturing a walled city was the greatest feat a soldier could achieve. Mastering your own temper is called a greater conquest, because the hardest thing to rule is yourself.
ארך אפים · erek appayim · long of nostrils
Literally 'long of nostrils'. Hebrew pictures anger as hot breath in the nose, and a long nose takes a long time to heat. The phrase is used of God in Exodus 34:6.
גבור · gibbor · warrior, strong man
A champion fighter, like David's mighty men.
משל · mashal · rule, govern
To have dominion over. This is a different verb from the similar-sounding noun mashal, a proverb.
רוח · ruach · breath, spirit
Here the temper, the inner surge that wants to burst out. Proverbs 25:28 compares a man with no rule over his ruach to a city with broken walls.
לכד · lakad · seize, take
The standard verb for taking a town in war.
עיר · ir · walled town
A fortified town, the hardest prize in ancient warfare.
Proverbs 16:33
People roll dice to decide things. But God decides how they land.
The lot is thrown into the lap,
This describes the human part. People toss the lot, and to the eye what comes up is pure chance.
but every decision it gives is from the LORD.
This is the contrast that closes the chapter. Even the thing that looks most random is ruled by God. It returns to verse 1: human beings act, and the LORD determines the outcome.
גורל · goral · lot
A small stone or marked piece used to decide a matter, and so the result it gives.
טול · tul · hurl, throw
To throw or fling. The same verb is used when Saul hurls his spear (1 Samuel 18:11).
חיק · cheq · lap, fold of the robe
The lap, or the fold of the garment above the belt. The same word is the 'inside pocket' of Proverbs 17:23.
משפט · mishpat · verdict, justice
The word used of the king's judgment in verse 10. The verdict of the lot is the LORD's own ruling.
Lots were used in Israel to settle questions without human bias: dividing the land (Joshua 18:10), assigning temple duties (1 Chronicles 24:5) and deciding disputes (Proverbs 18:18). The result was accepted as God's decision.