Passage

Proverbs 21.1

Book: Proverbs · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. The king's heart is in the hand of Jehovah as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever he will."

"2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; But Jehovah weigheth the hearts. 3. To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. The king’s heart is in Yahweh’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires."

"2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts. 3. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."

"2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. 3. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Rivulets of waters [is] the heart of a king in the hand of Jehovah, Wherever He pleaseth He inclineth it."

"2. Every way of a man [is] right in his own eyes, And Jehovah is pondering hearts. 3. To do righteousness and judgment, Is chosen of Jehovah rather than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.