Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
Parallel translations
- WEB A man’s steps are from Yahweh; how then can man understand his way?
- BSB A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?
- NKJV A man’s steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way?
- NASB A man’s steps are ordained by the Lord; How then can a person understand his way?
- NLT The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?
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
The Lord directs a person's steps, so we cannot fully understand our own way. It matters because it humbles us to trust God's sovereign guidance.
Overview
Human life unfolds under God's providence, and our limited understanding cannot grasp the whole of our path (Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 16:9). The verse calls for humble dependence rather than self-reliant certainty. We walk by faith, trusting the sovereign God who orders our steps for his purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 16:9A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
- Jer 10:23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
- Ps 25:12What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
- Ps 37:23The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
- Ps 25:4Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
- Prov 14:8The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.
- Dan 5:23But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
- Acts 17:28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
- Isa 10:6–7I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 20:24 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
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