Proverbs

Chapter 21

The King’s Heart

Proverbs 21 emphasizes that the LORD directs kings and weighs hearts, then contrasts righteousness, justice, diligence, restraint, and trust in God with pride, violence, pleasure-seeking, laziness, and empty confidence. The chapter repeatedly shows that human power, wealth, and planning are unstable apart from the LORD, while wise life is marked by moral clarity, compassion for the poor, disciplined speech, and patient dependence on divine salvation.

As the twenty-first chapter of Proverbs, this passage continues Solomon's sayings by bringing private motives, household tensions, public justice, and military readiness under God's sovereign judgment. It teaches that wisdom does not merely seek success but pursues righteousness and justice in full awareness that the LORD alone governs hearts, exposes crookedness, overturns wicked schemes, and grants final victory.

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Proverbs 21

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vv. 1-31

The King’s Heart

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T¹he king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; ²All a man’s ways seem right to him, ³To do righteousness and justice ⁴Haughty eyes and a proud heart— ⁵The plans of the diligent bring plenty, ⁶Making a fortune by a lying tongue ⁷The violence of the wicked will sweep them away ⁸The way of a guilty man is crooked,

⁹Better to live on a corner of the roof ¹⁰The soul of the wicked man craves evil; ¹¹When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; ¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked ¹³Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, ¹⁴A gift in secret soothes anger, ¹⁵Justice executed is a joy to the righteous, ¹⁶The man who strays from the path of understanding

¹⁷He who loves pleasure will become poor; ¹⁸The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, ¹⁹Better to live in the desert ²⁰Precious treasures and oil are in the dwelling of the wise, ²¹He who pursues righteousness and loving devotion ²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty ²³He who guards his mouth and tongue ²⁴Mocker is the name of the proud and arrogant man —

²⁵The craving of the slacker kills him ²⁶All day long he covets more, ²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable— ²⁸A lying witness will perish, ²⁹A wicked man hardens his face, ³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel ³¹A horse is prepared for the day of battle,

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01vv. 1-31The King’s HeartThe chapter gathers sayings about the LORD's control of kings, self-justification, righteousness and justice, pride, diligent planning, fraudulent gain, violent refusal of justice, domestic strife, pleasure, secret gifts, care for the poor, the fruit of judgment, guarding speech, sloth, generosity, false worship, lying witness, bold wickedness, divine wisdom, and battle preparation. Together they show that wisdom is not founded on self-confidence or force but on moral pursuit, sober diligence, and trust in the God who turns hearts, exposes motives, and gives salvation.