The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
Parallel translations
- WEB The king’s heart is in Yahweh’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.
- BSB The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.
- NKJV The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
- NASB The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He pleases.
- NLT The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases.
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 king's heart is in the Lord's hand, directed wherever he wills. It matters because God sovereignly rules even the most powerful human rulers.
Overview
Like an irrigation channel turned at will, even a king's heart is guided by God's sovereign hand for his purposes (Ezra 6:22; Daniel 2:21). This assures believers that no earthly power is beyond God's control. We can trust the Lord who governs rulers and nations to accomplish his good and just will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Prov 16:9A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
- Ezra 6:22And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
- Prov 20:24Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
- Acts 7:10And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
- Prov 16:1The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
- Ezra 7:27–28Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:
- Dan 4:35And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
- Ps 106:46He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.
- Isa 43:19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
- Neh 2:4Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
- Neh 1:11O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.
- Ps 105:25He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
- Ps 74:15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
- Ps 93:4The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
- Isa 44:27That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
- Rev 16:4And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
- Ps 114:3The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
- Rev 16:12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
- Ps 114:5What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
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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.
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Original language
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