Proverbs 23:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Yes, my heart will rejoice, When your lips speak what is right.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה

ʻâlaz

H5937

“and · to rejoice”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Plural

Appears 17× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at 2 Samuel 1:20

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1625

(Qal) to exult, rejoice, triumph

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

5: words
5: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה to rejoice H5937 — appearing just 17 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה to rejoice H5937 occurs in 16 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns

Verb forms

וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה Qal · Imperfect
בְּדַבֵּ֥ר Piel · Infinitive Construct

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 12 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Proverbs 23:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 8:6 Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.
Ephesians 5:4 nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate; but rather giving of thanks.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Colossians 4:4 that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.
James 3:2 For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn't stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Proverbs 23:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה כִלְיוֹתָ֑י בְּדַבֵּ֥ר שְׂ֝פָתֶ֗יךָ מֵישָׁרִֽים

Yes, my heart will rejoice, When your lips speak what is right.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Proverbs 23:16 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐν διατρίβω λόγος ὁ σός χεῖλος πρός ὁ ἐμός χεῖλος ἐάν ὀρθός οὖς

and your lips shall converse with my lips, if they be right.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Pulpit Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Proverbs 23:16 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

my reins--(Compare Psa 7:9).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) My reins shall rejoice.—These being represented in Hebrew poetry as the seat of the deepest affections, answering to “heart” in Pro_23:15. (Comp. Psa_7:9; Jer_12:2; Rev_2:23.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Yea, my reins shall rejoice,.... Which is only another phrase expressive of the same thing, and confirming the greatness of joy on the above occasion; not only his heart rejoiced, which was affectionately concerned for his son, near which he lay, the desires of which were frequently drawn out for his good, but his reins also; the seat of the afflictions rejoiced at it; showing how vehement, sincere, and hearty the joy was;

when thy lips speak right things; as they will, when the heart is wise; things agreeably to right reason, to the Scriptures of truth, the oracles of God; to the law and to the testimony; to the Gospel of Christ, and the doctrines of it; and such things as are savoury, pleasant, and profitable, and minister grace to the hearers. The Targum is,

"when my lips speak right things;''

see Pro 8:6.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Reins. Inmost affections.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

I shall rejoice not only in show and profession, but inwardly, and with all my soul.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

My reins shall rejoice. The "reins" (kelayoth), kidneys, are regarded as the seat of feeling and sensation. (Job_19:27) or of the inner nature generally. (Psa_16:7 Rev_2:22) I shall rejoice in my very soul when thy lips speak right things; i.e. when thy heart is so replete with wisdom, thy mind so well instructed as to utter naught but what is true and sensible. (Pro_8:6) The composition of these two verses is noteworthy, 15 a being parallel to 16 b, and. 15 b to 16 a. Septuagint, "And thy lips shall linger in words (endiatriqei logoiv ) with my lips, if they be right," which seems to mean, "If thy lips utter what is right, they will gather wisdom from my words and impart it to others."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

My reins - I shall rejoice with all my soul.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Paul E. Kretzmann

v. 16. Yea, my reins, his whole inner being, shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things, in an outward manifestation of the wisdom of the heart.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

when your lips speak right things since your heart has grown wise.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Proverbs, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 5 words (5 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻâlaz (“to rejoice”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to rejoice” (ʻâlaz) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does 2 Samuel 1:20, which shares the word «to rejoice», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Jamieson, Fausset & Brown and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
5 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 5 words in this verse.