16:23 A wise person’s heart 1 makes his speech wise 2
and it adds persuasiveness 3 to his words. 4
1 tn Or “mind” (cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT).
2 tn Heb “makes wise his mouth,” with “mouth” being a metonymy of cause for what is said: “speech.”
3 sn Those who are wise say wise things. The proverb uses synthetic parallelism: The first line asserts that the wise heart ensures that what is said is wise, and the second line adds that such a person increases the reception of what is said.
4 tn Heb “to his lips.” The term “lips” functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.