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Proverbs 23:16

in Proverbs 23

My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Yea, my heart will rejoice, When thy lips speak right things.

KJV

Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

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This verse in Proverbs 23

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

My son, if your heart is wise

on Proverbs 23:15-16

The father turns from correction to affection without a seam: "if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice." The words "my own heart" press the father's personal stake in the son's wisdom. The inmost being, the King James "reins", names the innermost organs in Hebrew idiom.

This site's exposition

My inmost being will rejoice

Verse 16 carries the joy of verse 15 one step further. Albert Barnes reads the teacher as glad when the learner's heart receives wisdom and gladder still when his lips can speak it. The inmost being names a joy felt deep within.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Yea, my reins shall rejoice,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

when your lips speak right things since your heart has grown wise.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Proverbs 23:16:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Let your heart not envy the sinners their success, to be wicked like them.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Proverbs 23:17:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

5 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָהso they may rejoice

    veta'lozenahH5937 →

  • כִלְיוֹתָ֑יkidneys my

    khilyotaiH3629 →

  • בְּדַבֵּ֥רwhen speak

    bedaberH1696 →1141 times

  • שְׂ֝פָתֶ֗יךָlips your

    sefateikhaH8193 →176 times

  • מֵישָׁרִֽים׃uprightness<es>

    meisharimH4339 →19 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

6 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Proverbs 16:24Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.15 worksProverbs 8:6Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right.5 worksEphesians 5:4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.4 worksEphesians 4:29Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.3 worksJames 3:2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.3 worksColossians 4:4Pray that I may declare it clearly, as I should.3 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Ephesians 4:29

    Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

    it leads to

    • Colossians 4:6

      Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

    • 1 Thessalonians 5:11

      Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.

    • Ecclesiastes 10:12

      The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.

    • Proverbs 15:7

      The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.

    • Colossians 3:8–9

      But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

  • Through

    James 3:2

    We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

    it leads to

    • James 1:26

      If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

    • Proverbs 13:3

      He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

    • 1 Peter 3:10

      For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

Where this verse is studied

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Proverbs: the study guide →Read Proverbs 23 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).

Read on in Proverbs 23 →