King James Version

Proverbs 20:24

Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

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Hebrew

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מֵיהוָ֥הmeyhvahfrom Jehovahיְהֹוָהpreposition, noun, proper name — “from Jehovah”H3068Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodJehovah, the Lord. Compare H3050 (יָהּ), H3069 (יְהֹוִה).מִצְעֲדֵיmitsadestepמִצְעָדnoun, common, masculine, plural, construct — “step”, the of-form, joined to the next wordH4703a step; figuratively, companionshipgoing, step.גָ֑בֶרgavermanגֶּבֶרnoun, common, masculine, singular, absolute — “man”, the ordinary formH1397properly, a valiant man or warrior; generally, a person simplyevery one, man, [idiom] mighty.וְ֝אָדָ֗םveadamand personאָדָםconjunction, noun, common, masculine, singular, absolute — “and person”, the ordinary formH120ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)[idiom] another, [phrase] hypocrite, [phrase] common sort, [idiom] low, man (mean, of low degree), person.מַהmahhowמָהparticle, interrogative — “how”H4100properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senseshow (long, oft, (-soever)), (no-) thing, what (end, good, purpose, thing), whereby(-fore, -in, -to, -with), (for) why.יָּבִ֥יןyavinunderstandבִּיןverb, qal, imperfect, 3rd person, masculine, singular — “understand”, an unfinished actionH995to separate mentally (or distinguish), i.e.(generally) understandattend, consider, be cunning, diligently, direct, discern, eloquent, feel, inform, instruct, have intelligence, know, look well to, mark, perceive, be prudent, regard, (can) skill(-full), teach, think, (cause, make to, get, give, have) und…דַּרְכּֽוֹdarkvoalongדֶּרֶךְnoun, common, both genders, singular, construct, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, singular — “along”, the of-form, joined to the next wordH1870a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverbalong, away, because of, [phrase] by, conversation, custom, (east-) ward, journey, manner, passenger, through, toward, (high-) (path-) way(-side), whither(-soever).

Jewish translation (JPS 1917)

A man's goings are of the LORD; how then can man look to his way?

Compare Public-Domain Translations

The King James Version remains the text of this page and the canonical URL.

American Standard Version (1901)

A man’s goings are of Jehovah; How then can man understand his way?

Young’s Literal Translation

From Jehovah [are] the steps of a man, And man — how understandeth he his way?

World English Bible

A man’s steps are from Yahweh; how then can man understand his way?

Darby Translation

The steps of a man are from Jehovah; and how can a man understand his own way?

Douay-Rheims

The steps of man are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own way?

Jewish Publication Society (1917)

A man's goings are of the LORD; how then can man look to his way?

Brenton’s Septuagint (1851), English

A man's goings are directed of the Lord: how then can a mortal understand his ways?

Septuagint (Brenton’s Greek, 1851)

Παρὰ Κυρίου εὐθύνεται τὰ διαβήματα ἀνδρὶ, θνητὸς δὲ πῶς ἂν νοήσαι τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ;