# Proverbs 21.2 **Book:** [Proverbs](/codex/proverbs/) · NASB95 ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/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. 4. A high look, and a proud heart, Even the lamp of the wicked, is sin. (Proverbs 21:1-4, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/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. 4. A high look, and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin. (Proverbs 21:1-4, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/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. 4. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin. An: Heb. Haughtiness of eyes the plowing: or, the light (Proverbs 21:1-4, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/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. 4. Loftiness of eyes, and breadth of heart, Tillage of the wicked [is] sin. (Proverbs 21:1-4, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** the sage of Proverbs; the verse belongs to the collection headed "The proverbs of Solomon" (10:1-22:16) - **Audience:** the learner being trained in wisdom, addressed through the book as "my son" (1:8) - **Location:** Israel; the collection is linked to Solomon's court in Jerusalem - **Time period:** the Solomonic collection is traditionally set in the tenth century BC; the book reached its final form later, after "the men of Hezekiah" had copied out a further collection (25:1) ## Theological reading "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; But Jehovah weigheth the hearts." The proverb sets two verdicts side by side: the one a man passes on himself, and the one God passes on him. **Self-assessment fails.** "Right" (Strong's H3477) is how a man's way looks "in his own eyes" (H5869). The book repeats the warning: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; But Jehovah weigheth the spirits" (16:2), and "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death" (14:12). Sincerity is not the standard. **God weighs the heart.** "Weigheth" (H8505) is the language of measuring and testing. God's judgment reaches past outward acts to the "hearts" (H3826), the inner person who chooses the way. Compare "Jehovah looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7) and "Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it?" (Proverbs 24:12). The next verse draws the practical conclusion: "To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice" (21:3). **The Egyptian scales.** The picture of a weighed heart was familiar among Israel's neighbors. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead the heart of the dead person is weighed on a balance against the feather of Ma'at, and in spell 125 the deceased recites a long list of wrongs he has not done. Proverbs agrees that the heart is judged. It differs on who judges and on what the judged can plead. Here the Judge is Jehovah himself, and a man's own verdict on his innocence is exactly what cannot be trusted. Scripture answers the fear of that judgment with forgiveness, not a better declaration of innocence: "If thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee" (Psalm 130:3-4). See [Kemetic Religion vs the Christian God](/codex/kemetic-religion-vs-the-christian-god/). ## 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._ - _TBD_ - _TBD_ - _TBD_ - _TBD_ ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Kemetic Religion vs the Christian God](/codex/kemetic-religion-vs-the-christian-god/) ## Notes _Your annotations._ ## 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](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/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](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.