Proverbs 16:1

16:1 The intentions of the heart ¹  belong to a man, ² 

but the answer of the tongue ³  comes from ⁴  the Lord. ⁵ 

Proverbs 24:9

24:9 A foolish scheme ⁶  is sin,

and the scorner is an abomination to people. ⁷ 

Proverbs 27:19

27:19 As in water the face is reflected as a face, ⁸ 

so a person’s heart ⁹  reflects the person.

Proverbs 24:12

24:12 If you say, “But we did not know about this,”

does not the one who evaluates ¹⁰  hearts consider?

Does not the one who guards your life know?

Will he not repay each person according to his deeds? ¹¹ 

[16:1]  ¹ tn Heb “plans of the heart” (so ASV, NASB, NIV). The phrase מַעַרְכֵי־לֵב (ma’arkhe-lev) means “the arrangements of the mind.”

[16:1]  ² tn Heb “[are] to a man.”

[16:1]  ³ tn Here “the tongue” is a metonymy of cause in which the instrument of speech is put for what is said: the answer expressed.

[16:1]  ⁴ sn The contrasting prepositions enhance the contrasting ideas – the ideas belong to people, but the words come from the Lord.

[16:1]  ⁵ sn There are two ways this statement can be taken: (1) what one intends to say and what one actually says are the same, or (2) what one actually says differs from what the person intended to say. The second view fits the contrast better. The proverb then is giving a glimpse of how God even confounds the wise. When someone is trying to speak [“answer” in the book seems to refer to a verbal answer] before others, the Lord directs the words according to his sovereign will.

[24:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the scheme of folly” (NIV similar). The genitive functions as an attributive genitive, meaning “foolish scheme.” But it could also be interpreted as a genitive of source, the scheme that comes from folly (or from the fool if “folly” were metonymical).

[24:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “to a man”; cf. CEV “Everyone hates senseless fools.”

[27:19]  ¹¹ tn The verse is somewhat cryptic and so has prompted many readings. The first line in the MT has “As water the face to the face.” The simplest and most probable interpretation is that clear water gives a reflection of the face (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). One creative but unconvincing suggestion is that of L. Kopf, who suggests the idea is “water of face” (a construct) and that it means shame or modesty, i.e., a face is not really human without shame, and a man without a heart is not human (“Arabische Etymologien und Parallelen zum Bibelwörterbuch,” VT 9 [1959]: 260-61).

[27:19]  ¹² tn The second line has “so the heart of a man to a man” (cf. KJV, ASV). The present translation (along with many English versions) supplies “reflects” as a verb in the second line to emphasize the parallelism.

[24:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV) meaning “tests” or “evaluates.”

[24:12]  ¹⁷ sn The verse completes the saying by affirming that people will be judged responsible for helping those in mortal danger. The verse uses a series of rhetorical questions to affirm that God knows our hearts and we cannot plead ignorance.