Proverbs 20:24

The steps of a person ¹  are ordained by ²  the Lord – so how can anyone ³  understand his own ⁴  way?

A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

Man’s steps are ordained by the LORD, How then can man understand his way?

How can we understand the road we travel? It is the LORD who directs our steps.

The very steps we take come from GOD; otherwise how would we know where we're going?

A man’s steps are of the Lord; how then may a man have knowledge of his way?

All our steps are ordered by the LORD; how then can we understand our own ways?

A man’s steps are of the LORD; How then can a man understand his own way?

The steps of a person ¹  are ordained by ²  the Lord – so how can anyone ³  understand his own ⁴  way?

¹ tn Heb “the steps of a man”; but “man” is the noun גֶּבֶר (gever, in pause), indicating an important, powerful person. BDB 149-50 s.v. suggests it is used of men in their role of defending women and children; if that can be validated, then a translation of “man” would be appropriate here. But the line seems to have a wider, more general application. The “steps” represent (by implied comparison) the course of life (cf. NLT “the road we travel”).

² tn Heb “from the Lord”; NRSV “ordered by the Lord”; NIV “directed by the Lord.”

sn To say that one’s steps are ordained by the Lord means that one’s course of actions, one’s whole life, is divinely prepared and sovereignly superintended (e.g., Gen 50:26; Prov 3:6). Ironically, man is not actually in control of his own steps.

³ tn The verse uses an independent nominative absolute to point up the contrast between the mortal and the immortal: “and man, how can he understand his way?” The verb in the sentence would then be classified as a potential imperfect; and the whole question rhetorical. It is affirming that humans cannot understand very much at all about their lives.

⁴ tn Heb “his way.” The referent of the third masculine singular pronoun is unclear, so the word “own” was supplied in the translation to clarify that the referent is the human individual, not the Lord.