Proverbs 16:7

16:7 When a person’s ¹  ways are pleasing to the Lord, ² 

he ³  even reconciles his enemies to himself. ⁴ 

Proverbs 21:1

21:1 The king’s heart ⁵  is in the hand ⁶  of the Lord like channels of water; ⁷ 

he turns it wherever he wants.

¹ tn Heb “ways of a man.”

² tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the Lord” = “when the Lord is pleased with.” So the condition set down for the second colon is a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.

³ tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the Lord – it is his lifestyle that disarms his enemies. W. McKane comments that the righteous have the power to mend relationships (Proverbs [OTL], 491); see, e.g., 10:13; 14:9; 15:1; 25:21-22). The life that is pleasing to God will be above reproach and find favor with others. Some would interpret this to mean that God makes his enemies to be at peace with him (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). This is workable, but in this passage it would seem God would do this through the pleasing life of the believer (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

⁴ tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”

⁵ sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.

⁶ sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.

⁷ tn “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison – “like channels of water.” Cf. NAB “Like a stream”; NIV “watercourse”; NRSV, NLT “a stream of water.”