Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version In the LORD’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him. New Living Translation The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he guides it wherever he pleases. English Standard Version The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Berean Standard Bible The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases. King James Bible The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. New King James Version The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. New American Standard Bible The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He pleases. NASB 1995 The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes. NASB 1977 The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes. Legacy Standard Bible The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of Yahweh; He turns it wherever He pleases. Amplified Bible The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it whichever way He wishes. Christian Standard Bible A king’s heart is like channeled water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses. Holman Christian Standard Bible A king’s heart is like streams of water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever He chooses. American Standard Version The king's heart is in the hand of Jehovah as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever he will. Contemporary English Version The LORD controls rulers, just as he determines the course of rivers. English Revised Version The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD as the watercourses: he turneth it whithersoever he will. GOD'S WORD® Translation The king's heart is like streams of water. Both are under the LORD's control. He turns them in any direction he chooses. Good News Translation The LORD controls the mind of a king as easily as he directs the course of a stream. International Standard Version A king's heart is a water stream that the LORD controls; he directs it wherever he pleases. Majority Standard Bible The king?s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases. NET Bible The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD like channels of water; he turns it wherever he wants. New Heart English Bible The king's heart is in the LORD's hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires. Webster's Bible Translation The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. World English Bible The king’s heart is in Yahweh’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires. Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionThe heart of a king [is] streams of waters in the hand of YHWH, "" He inclines it wherever He pleases. Young's Literal Translation Rivulets of waters is the heart of a king in the hand of Jehovah, Wherever He pleaseth He inclineth it. Smith's Literal Translation Steams of waters the heart of the king, in the hand of Jehovah: upon all which he shall delight in he will turn it. Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleAs the divisions of waters, so the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will he shall turn it. Catholic Public Domain Version Just as with the dividing of the waters, so also is the heart of the king in the hand of the Lord. He shall bend it whichever way he wills. New American Bible A king’s heart is channeled water in the hand of the LORD; God directs it where he pleases. New Revised Standard Version The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleLIKE streams of water, so is the king's heart in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Peshitta Holy Bible Translated The heart of the King is like a stream of waters in the hands of God, and he turns it wherever he chooses. OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever He will. Brenton Septuagint Translation As a rush of water, so is the king's heart in God's hand: he turns it whithersoever he may desire to point out. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context The King's Heart1The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases. 2All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.… Cross References Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God. Daniel 4:35 All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps. Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’ Psalm 33:10-11 The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples. / The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Job 12:23 He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them. Ezra 6:22 For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 20:6 and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You. Isaiah 14:24 The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand. Psalm 115:3 Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases. Acts 4:27-28 In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. / They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen. Ephesians 1:11 In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, Genesis 50:20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people. Exodus 9:16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 1 Samuel 2:7-8 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts. / He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world. Treasury of Scripture The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will. as Psalm 74:15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. Psalm 93:4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Psalm 114:3,5 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back… Jump to Previous Brooks Channels Desires Direction Directs Hand Hands Heart Inclineth King's Pleases Pleaseth Pleasure Rivers Rivulets Stream Streams Turned Turneth Turns Water Watercourse Watercourses Waters Wherever Whithersoever WishesJump to Next Brooks Channels Desires Direction Directs Hand Hands Heart Inclineth King's Pleases Pleaseth Pleasure Rivers Rivulets Stream Streams Turned Turneth Turns Water Watercourse Watercourses Waters Wherever Whithersoever WishesProverbs 21 1. The king's heart in the hand of the LordThe king’s heart In ancient Israel, the king was seen as the earthly representative of God's authority. The Hebrew word for "heart" (לֵב, lev) encompasses not just emotions but also the mind and will. This phrase suggests that even the most powerful human authority is subject to divine influence. Historically, kings were often viewed as autonomous rulers, but this verse reminds us that their decisions and inclinations are ultimately under God's sovereign control. is a waterway in the hand of the LORD He directs it where He pleases (1) As the rivers of water.--Channels for irrigation (comp. Psalm 1:3). He turns the heart of the king, whose favour is as the latter rain (Proverbs 16:15) and dew (Proverbs 19:12), now towards one suppliant and now towards another, as He thinks fit, for "the hearts of kings are in His rule and governance." Verse 1. - The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water. We are to think of the little channels used for irrigation. As these are altogether under the gardener's control, so the heart of the king, who might seem to have no superior, is directed by God. He turneth it whithersoever he will. By hidden influences and providential arrangements God disposes the monarch to order his government so as to carry out his designs, to spread around joy and plenty. The system of irrigation signified in this passage is still to be seen in Eastern lands. "Flower beds and gardens of herbs are always made at a little lower level than the surrounding ground, and are divided into small squares, a slight edging of earth banking the whole round on each side. Water is then let in, and floods the entire surface till the soil is thoroughly saturated; after which the moisture is turned off to another bed, by simply closing the opening in the one under water, by a turn of the bare foot of the gardener, and making another in the same way with the foot, in the next bed, and thus the whole garden is in due course watered .... Only, in this case, the hand is supposed to make the gap in the clay bank of the streamlet, and divert the current" (Geikie, 'Holy Land and Bible,' 1:9). So in Virgil we find ('Ecl.,' 3:111) -"Claudite jam rivos, pueri; sat prata biberunt." "Now close the cuts; enough the meads have drunk." Hebrew The king’sמֶ֭לֶךְ (me·leḵ) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 4428: A king heart לֶב־ (leḇ-) Noun - masculine singular construct Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre is a waterway פַּלְגֵי־ (pal·ḡê-) Noun - masculine plural construct Strong's 6388: A channel, canal in the hand בְּיַד־ (bə·yaḏ-) Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct Strong's 3027: A hand of the LORD; יְהוָ֑ה (Yah·weh) Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel He directs it יַטֶּֽנּוּ׃ (yaṭ·ṭen·nū) Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular Strong's 5186: To stretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bend where עַֽל־ (‘al-) Preposition Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against He pleases. יַחְפֹּ֣ץ (yaḥ·pōṣ) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 2654: To incline to, to bend, to be pleased with, desire Links Proverbs 21:1 NIVProverbs 21:1 NLT Proverbs 21:1 ESV Proverbs 21:1 NASB Proverbs 21:1 KJV Proverbs 21:1 BibleApps.com Proverbs 21:1 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 21:1 Chinese Bible Proverbs 21:1 French Bible Proverbs 21:1 Catholic Bible OT Poetry: Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in Yahweh's hand (Prov. 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