Proverbs 22:11

The one who loves a pure heart ¹  and whose speech is gracious ²  – the king will be his friend. ³ 

He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.

He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

Anyone who loves a pure heart and gracious speech is the king’s friend.

GOD loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken; good leaders also delight in their friendship.

He whose heart is clean is dear to the Lord; for the grace of his lips the king will be his friend.

Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech will have the king as a friend.

He who loves purity of heart And has grace on his lips, The king will be his friend.

The one who loves a pure heart ¹  and whose speech is gracious ²  – the king will be his friend. ³ 

¹ sn The “heart” is a metonymy of subject; it represents the intentions and choices that are made. “Pure of heart” uses “heart” as a genitive of specification. The expression refers to someone who has honest and clear intentions.

² tn Heb “grace of his lips” (so KJV, ASV). The “lips” are a metonymy of cause representing what is said; it also functions as a genitive of specification.

sn This individual is gracious or kind in what he says; thus the verse is commending honest intentions and gracious words.

³ tn The syntax of the line is somewhat difficult, because “grace of his lips” seems to be intruding on the point of the verse with little explanation. Therefore the LXX rendered it “The Lord loves the pure in heart; all who are blameless in their ways are acceptable to him.” This has very little correspondence with the Hebrew; nevertheless commentators attempt to reconstruct the verse using it, and the NAB follows the first clause of the LXX here. Some have suggested taking “king” as the subject of the whole verse (“the king loves…”), but this is forced.