When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.
Parallel translations
- WEB When a man’s ways please Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- KJV When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- ESV When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- NKJV When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- NASB When a person’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He causes even his enemies to make peace with him.
- NLT When people’s lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When someone's life pleases God, even enemies may be brought to peace. It matters because godly living is under God's care, who can turn hostility toward reconciliation.
Overview
This proverb expresses confidence that God superintends the lives of those who please Him, even subduing enemies. It is a general principle of God's providential favor, not an absolute promise that the faithful never face opposition. It encourages believers to pursue God-pleasing lives and to leave outcomes, including enemies, in His hands (cf. Romans 12:18-19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Rom 8:31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- 1 Jn 3:22and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
- 2 Chr 17:10And the dread of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.
- Col 1:10so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
- Jer 15:11The LORD said: “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will intercede with your enemy in your time of trouble, in your time of distress.
- Heb 13:21equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
- Gen 33:4Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.
- Gen 32:28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”
- Col 3:20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.
- Acts 9:19–20and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
- Ps 69:31And this will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.
- Phil 4:18I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
- Gen 32:6–7When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”
- Gen 27:41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
- Acts 9:1–2Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 16:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.