Proverbs 14:8

14:8 The wisdom of the shrewd person ¹  is to discern ²  his way,

but the folly of fools is deception. ³ 

Proverbs 16:9

16:9 A person ⁴  plans his course, ⁵ 

but the Lord directs ⁶  his steps. ⁷ 

Psalms 25:4

25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

Teach me your paths! ⁸ 

Psalms 25:12

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. ⁹ 

Isaiah 10:6-7

10:6 I sent him ¹⁰  against a godless ¹¹  nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ¹² 

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down ¹³  like dirt in the streets.

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ¹⁴ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Or “the prudent [person]” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

² tn The Hiphil infinitive construct denotes purpose. Those who are shrewd will use it to give careful consideration to all their ways.

³ tn The word means “deception,” but some suggest “self-deception” here (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 466; and D. W. Thomas, “Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 286); cf. NLT “fools deceive themselves.” The parallelism would favor this, but there is little support for it. The word usually means “craft practiced on others.” If the line is saying the fool is deceitful, there is only a loose antithesis between the cola.

⁴ tn Heb “the heart of a man.” This stresses that it is within the heart that plans are made. Only those plans that are approved by God will succeed.

⁵ tn Heb “his way” (so KJV, NASB).

⁶ tn The verb כּוּן (kun, “to establish; to confirm”) with צַעַד (tsa’ad, “step”) means “to direct” (e.g., Ps 119:133; Jer 10:23). This contrasts what people plan and what actually happens – God determines the latter.

⁷ sn “Steps” is an implied comparison, along with “way,” to indicate the events of the plan as they work out.

⁸ sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

⁹ tn Heb “Who is this man, the one who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The singular (note “man”) is representative here (see v. 14, where the plural is used), and has thus been translated as a plural (“followers…they”).

¹⁰ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

¹¹ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

¹² tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

¹³ tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”