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Selected Verse: Proverbs 20:5 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Pr 20:5	King James	Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Counsel . . . water--that is, deeply hidden (Pro 18:4; Psa 13:2). The wise can discern well.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Counsel . . . water--that is, deeply hidden (Pro 18:4; Psa 13:2). The wise can discern well.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The contest between reticence on the one side and pertinacity in search on the other is represented as by a parable. The well may be very deep (compare the marginal reference), but the man of understanding" has enough skill to draw up the water even to the last drop. Every question is, as it were, a turning of the windlass.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

The contest between reticence on the one side and pertinacity in search on the other is represented as by a parable. The well may be very deep (compare the marginal reference), but the man of understanding" has enough skill to draw up the water even to the last drop. Every question is, as it were, a turning of the windlass.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
5 The purpose in the heart of a man is deep water; But a man of understanding draweth it out. "Still waters are deep." Like such deep waters (Pro 18:4) is that which a man hath secretly (Isa 29:15) planned in his heart. He keeps it secret, conceals it carefully, craftily misleads those who seek to draw it out; but the man of תּבוּנה, i.e., one who possesses the right criteria for distinguishing between good and bad, true and false, and at the same time has the capacity to look through men and things, draws out (the Venet. well, ἀνέλξει) the secret עצה, for he penetrates to the bottom of the deep water. Such an one does not deceive himself with men, he knows how to estimate their conduct according to its last underlying motive and aim; and if the purpose is one that is pernicious to him, he meets it in the process of realization. What is here said is applicable not only to the subtle statesman and the general, but also the pragmatical historian and the expositor, as, e.g., of a poem such as the book of Job, the idea of which lies like a pearl at the bottom of deep water.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

5 The purpose in the heart of a man is deep water;

But a man of understanding draweth it out.

"Still waters are deep." Like such deep waters (Pro 18:4) is that which a man hath secretly (Isa 29:15) planned in his heart. He keeps it secret, conceals it carefully, craftily misleads those who seek to draw it out; but the man of תּבוּנה, i.e., one who possesses the right criteria for distinguishing between good and bad, true and false, and at the same time has the capacity to look through men and things, draws out (the Venet. well, ἀνέλξει) the secret עצה, for he penetrates to the bottom of the deep water. Such an one does not deceive himself with men, he knows how to estimate their conduct according to its last underlying motive and aim; and if the purpose is one that is pernicious to him, he meets it in the process of realization. What is here said is applicable not only to the subtle statesman and the general, but also the pragmatical historian and the expositor, as, e.g., of a poem such as the book of Job, the idea of which lies like a pearl at the bottom of deep water.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Counsel - Designs of doing something of moment. Deep water - Is secret and hard to be discovered.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

Counsel - Designs of doing something of moment. Deep water - Is secret and hard to be discovered.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Counsel in the heart of man - Men of the deepest and most comprehensive minds are rarely apt, unsolicited, to join in any discourse, in which they might appear even to the greatest advantage; but a man of understanding will elicit this, by questions framed for the purpose, and thus pump up the salubrious waters from the deep and capacious well. The metaphor is fine and expressive.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

Counsel in the heart of man - Men of the deepest and most comprehensive minds are rarely apt, unsolicited, to join in any discourse, in which they might appear even to the greatest advantage; but a man of understanding will elicit this, by questions framed for the purpose, and thus pump up the salubrious waters from the deep and capacious well. The metaphor is fine and expressive.

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