Proverbs 16:10
in Proverbs 16A divine verdict is on the lips of a king; his mouth must not betray justice.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
A divine sentence is in the lips of the king; His mouth shall not transgress in judgment.
KJV
A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment.
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This verse in Proverbs 16
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA divine sentence is in the lips of the king,.... Or "divination" (f), as the word signifies; or what is like to divination, as Aben Ezra and Gersom interpret it (g). What be says is as an oracle, and should be strictly true. Some understand it of the sagacity and penetration of kings, as was in Solomon, and appeared in his judging the two harlots; but such is not to be found in kings in common: rather therefore this expresses and designs what should be, and not what is, in kings.
This site's exposition
A divine verdict is on the lips of a king
on Proverbs 16:10-12
“A divine verdict is on the lips of a king,” and “his mouth must not betray justice.” “Honest scales and balances are from the LORD,” so honest trade answers to the same standard as royal judgment. “Wicked behavior is detestable to kings, for a throne is established through righteousness”.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Divination is on the lips of the king, etc. He signifies that king, of whom it was said, God, give your judgment to the king (Psalm XVII). For who among temporal kings never errs in judgment? In whose lips is divination, because He not only …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A divine sentence - קסם kesem, “divination,” as the margin has it. Is the meaning as follows? Though divination were applied to a righteous king’s lips, to induce him to punish the innocent and spare the guilty, yet would not his lips transgress in judgment; so firmly attached is he to God, and so much is he under the Divine care and influence. Whatever judgment such a one pronounces, it may be considered as a decision from God.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A divine sentence - See the margin, i. e., “soothsaying” in its darker aspect as contrasted with prophecy. The true oracle is to be sought, not from soothsayers and diviners, but “at the lips of the king,” who is ideally the representative, the προφήτης prophētēs of Yahweh, in His government of mankind.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
There is magic on a king’s lips On the lips of a wise man sitting in judgment.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The balance and scales of justice are the Lord’s etc. to requite a person according to his deed. משפט is (justice in French, in German Gerechtigkeit, and so in Isaiah,) the retribution for a person’s sins with a balance and scales.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קֶ֤סֶם׀ | kesem | divination | H7081 → | |
| עַֽל־ | ʾal- | [is] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שִׂפְתֵי־ | siftei- | [the] lips of | H8193 → | 176 times |
| מֶ֑לֶךְ | melekh | a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| בְּ֝מִשְׁפָּ֗ט | bemishpat | in judgment | H4941 → | 422 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִמְעַל־ | yimal- | it will act unfaithfully | H4603 → | |
| פִּֽיו׃ | piv | mouth his | H6310 → | 498 times |
קֶ֤סֶם׀divination
kesemH7081 →
עַֽל־[is] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
שִׂפְתֵי־[the] lips of
siftei-H8193 →176 times
מֶ֑לֶךְa king
melekhH4428 →2525 times
בְּ֝מִשְׁפָּ֗טin judgment
bemishpatH4941 →422 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִמְעַל־it will act unfaithfully
yimal-H4603 →
פִּֽיו׃mouth his
pivH6310 →498 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Amos 5:7There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
it leads to
- Amos 6:12
“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
- Amos 5:11–12
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the…
- Hosea 10:4
They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
- Amos 6:12
Through
Genesis 44:5Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 21:6
He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Leviticus 19:26
You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
- Genesis 30:27
But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”
- Genesis 44:15
“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”
- Deuteronomy 18:10–14
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,
- 2 Kings 21:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.