Amsal 16:1
Konteks16:1 The intentions of the heart 1 belong to a man, 2
but the answer of the tongue 3 comes from 4 the Lord. 5
Amsal 19:21
Konteks19:21 There are many plans 6 in a person’s mind, 7
but it 8 is the counsel 9 of the Lord which will stand.
Amsal 20:12
Konteks20:12 The ear that hears and the eye that sees 10 –
the Lord has made them both. 11
[16:1] 1 tn Heb “plans of the heart” (so ASV, NASB, NIV). The phrase מַעַרְכֵי־לֵב (ma’arkhe-lev) means “the arrangements of the mind.”
[16:1] sn Humans may set things in order, plan out what they are going to say, but God sovereignly enables them to put their thoughts into words.
[16:1] 2 tn Heb “[are] to a man.”
[16:1] 3 tn Here “the tongue” is a metonymy of cause in which the instrument of speech is put for what is said: the answer expressed.
[16:1] 4 sn The contrasting prepositions enhance the contrasting ideas – the ideas belong to people, but the words come from the
[16:1] 5 sn There are two ways this statement can be taken: (1) what one intends to say and what one actually says are the same, or (2) what one actually says differs from what the person intended to say. The second view fits the contrast better. The proverb then is giving a glimpse of how God even confounds the wise. When someone is trying to speak [“answer” in the book seems to refer to a verbal answer] before others, the
[19:21] 6 sn The plans (from the Hebrew verb חָשַׁב [khashav], “to think; to reckon; to devise”) in the human heart are many. But only those which God approves will succeed.
[19:21] 7 tn Heb “in the heart of a man” (cf. NAB, NIV). Here “heart” is used for the seat of thoughts, plans, and reasoning, so the translation uses “mind.” In contemporary English “heart” is more often associated with the seat of emotion than with the seat of planning and reasoning.
[19:21] 8 tn Heb “but the counsel of the
[19:21] 9 tn The antithetical parallelism pairs “counsel” with “plans.” “Counsel of the
[19:21] sn The point of the proverb is that the human being with many plans is uncertain, but the
[20:12] 10 sn The first half of the verse refers to two basic senses that the
[20:12] 11 sn The verse not only credits God with making these faculties of hearing and sight and giving them to people, but it also emphasizes their spiritual use in God’s service.