Proverbs 16:1 - Exposition

The Authorized Version makes one sentence of this verse without any contrast or antithesis. This is plainly wrong, there being intended a contrast between the thought of the heart and the well ordered speech. It is better translated, The plans of the heart are man ' s : but the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah. Men make plans, arrange speeches, muster arguments, in the mind; but to put these into proper, persuasive words is a gift of God. "Our sufficiency is of God" ( 2 Corinthians 3:5 ). In the case of Balaam, God overruled the wishes and intentions of the prophet, and constrained him to give utterance to something very different from his original mental conceptions. But the present sentence attributes the outward expression of what the mind has conceived in every case unto the help of God (comp. Proverbs 16:9 , Proverbs 16:33 ; Proverbs 15:23 ). Christ enjoined his disciples to trust to momentary inspiration in their apologies or defences before unbelievers ( Matthew 10:19 ). This verse is omitted in the Septuagint.