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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 16:9 - 16:9
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
9 The heart of man deviseth his way;
But Jahve directeth his steps.
Similar to this is the German proverb: “Der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt” [= our “man proposes, God disposes”], and the Arabic el-‛abd (הָעֶבֶד = man) judebbir wallah juḳaddir; Latin, homo proponit, Deus disponit; for, as Hitzig rightly remarks, 9b means, not that God maketh his steps firm (Venet., Luther, Umbreit, Bertheau, Elster), but that He gives direction to him (Jerome, dirigere). Man deliberates here and there (חִשֵּׁב, intens. of חָשַׁב, to calculate, reflect) how he will begin and carry on this or that; but his short-sightedness leaves much out of view which God sees; his calculation does not comprehend many contingencies which God disposes of and man cannot foresee. The result and issue are thus of God, and the best is, that in all his deliberations one should give himself up without self-confidence and arrogance to the guidance of God, that one should do his duty and leave the rest, with humility and confidence, to God.