What Does Proverbs 16:1 Mean in the King James?
The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The heart can arrange its inner thoughts, but the answer that reaches the tongue has a source the heart does not control.
THE MEANING
Your heart arranges intentions, yet the words that finally meet the moment do not come from your planning alone. The verse holds both human inward preparation and the LORD as the source of the tongue’s answer. Speech is where your own arranging meets a source beyond you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every answer you speak is entirely your own achievement.
THE ROOT
מַעַרְכֵי
maʿarkhê
GROWS FROM
ערך
Arrange, set in order, draw up.
“preparations” in this verse is maʿarkhê. The word pictures the heart arranging an inner array, not merely having a passing thought. That arrangement belongs to the person, while the verse locates the tongue’s answer in the LORD, keeping intention and utterance related but distinct.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārakh: Arrange or set in order.
עָרַךְ
The root makes the heart’s preparation an act of arranging what is within.
maʿărākhāh: An array or formation.
מַעֲרָכָה
This branch makes the inner arrangement vivid: the heart lines up its thoughts like an ordered formation.
ʿārūkh: Arranged or prepared.
עָרוּךְ
The prepared state grows from the same root as the heart’s arranging, showing preparation as an ordering of what is already there.
THE PATTERN
Human intention is real, yet the answer and outcome are not under human control alone.
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.THE THREAD
A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!The two verses use the same Hebrew word for “answer,” directly linking the LORD as its source with the joy of its timely arrival. The answer is not only spoken; when it meets its moment, it becomes good.
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