What Does Proverbs 16:21 Mean in the King James?
The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
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
Sweet speech is not decoration on wisdom; it is how wisdom makes learning easier to receive.
THE MEANING
Wisdom in your heart becomes visible as discernment, while sweetness in speech increases what can be received. The words you meet and speak carry more than ideas: their manner can make instruction easier to take in.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the truth of a lesson alone determines whether it can be learned.
THE ROOT
לֶקַח
leqach
GROWS FROM
לקח
to take or receive
The word for learning, leqach, is related to laqach, “to take” or “receive.” The verse suggests that sweetness in speech increases learning by making instruction more receivable.
ALSO GROWS
laqach: to take, receive
לָקַח
This verb echoes in leqach: learning is pictured as something taken in.
leqach: instruction, learning
לֶקַח
This is the verse’s word for what grows when speech is sweet.
נָבוֹן
navon
GROWS FROM
בין
to understand or distinguish between
“prudent” in this verse is navon. Navon describes discernment: the ability to perceive distinctions. The verse calls the wise in heart discerning, linking inner wisdom with clear seeing.
ALSO GROWS
bin: to understand, discern
בִּין
This verb supplies the root sense beneath the verse’s word for prudent.
binah: understanding, discernment
בִּינָה
This noun names the kind of perception expressed by navon.
מֶתֶק
meteq
GROWS FROM
מתק
sweetness; to be sweet
The verse uses meteq for the sweetness of the lips, a quality of speech that affects how much learning is received. Its root also appears in the word for “sweet,” keeping the sensory image present in the Hebrew.
ALSO GROWS
matoq: sweet
מָתוֹק
This adjective shares the root and makes the verse’s image of sweetness concrete.
mataq: to be sweet, become sweet
מָתַק
This verb carries the same quality from which the noun meteq is formed.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom becomes transmissible when speech carries it in a form the hearer can receive.
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.THE THREAD
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:Both verses use לֶקַח (leqach), “learning” or “instruction.” Proverbs 1:5 shows the wise increasing this learning by hearing; Proverbs 16:21 shows sweet speech increasing it by making instruction easier to receive.
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