Proverbs - 16:7



7 When a man's ways please Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Proverbs 16:7.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
When the ways of man shall please the Lord, he will convert even his enemies to peace.
When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his haters be at peace with him.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Goodness has power to charm and win even enemies to itself.

When a man's ways please the Lord - God is the guardian and defense of all that fear and love him; and it is truly astonishing to see how wondrously God works in their behalf, raising them up friends, and turning their enemies into friends.

When a man's ways please the Lord,.... As they do when a man walks according to the rule of his word; when he walks as he has Christ for an example; when he walks after the Spirit, and not after the flesh; when he walks by faith, and does all he does in faith; without which it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6; and when all his ways and actions are directed to the glory of God;
he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him; as Abimelech with Isaac, Esau with Jacob; and the enemies of the church and people of God with then, in the latter day, Revelation 3:9.

He that has all hearts in his hand, can make a man's enemies to be at peace with him.

Persecutions, of course, excepted.

7 If Jahve has pleasure in the ways of a man,
He reconciles even his enemies to him -
properly (for השׁלים is here the causative of the transitive, Joshua 10:1): He brings it about that they conclude peace with him. If God has pleasure in the ways of a man, i.e., in the designs which he prosecutes, and in the means which he employs, he shows, by the great consequences which flow from his endeavours, that, even as his enemies also acknowledge, God is with him (e.g., Genesis 26:27.), so that they, vanquished in heart (e.g., 2-Samuel 19:9.), abandon their hostile position, and become his friends. For if it is manifest that God makes Himself known, bestowing blessings on a man, there lies in this a power of conviction which disarms his most bitter opponents, excepting only those who have in selfishness hardened themselves.

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