21:1 The king’s heart 1 is in the hand 2 of the Lord like channels of water; 3
he turns it wherever he wants.
21:2 All of a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, 4
but the Lord evaluates 5 the motives. 6
1 sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.
2 sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.
3 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.”
sn The farmer channels irrigation ditches where he wants them, where they will do the most good; so does the
4 tn Heb “in his own eyes.” The term “eyes” is a metonymy for estimation, opinion, evaluation.
5 tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “examines”; NCV, TEV “judges.”
6 tn Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives (BDB 660-61 s.v. 6-7). Even though people think they know themselves, the