Proverbs - 21:31



31 The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with Yahweh.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Proverbs 21:31.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.
The horse is prepared for the day of battle: but the Lord giveth safety.
A horse is prepared for a day of battle, And the deliverance is of Jehovah!
The horse is made ready for the day of war, but power to overcome is from the Lord.
The horse is prepared for the day of battle. But the Lord bestows salvation.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle - Horses were not used among the Jews before the time of Solomon. There was a Divine command against them, Deuteronomy 17:16; but Solomon transgressed it; see 1-Kings 10:29. But he here allows that a horse is a vain thing for safety; and that however strong and well appointed cavalry may be, still safety, escape, and victory, are of the Lord. Among the ancient Asiatics, the horse was used only for war; oxen labored in the plough and cart, the ass and the camel carried backloads; and mules and asses served for riding. We often give the credit of a victory to man, when they who consider the circumstances see that it came from God.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle,.... The horse is a warlike creature, and was much used formerly, as now, in war; these are prepared against the day of battle, to mount the cavalry with; and men are apt to put too great confidence in them: this is mentioned instead of all other military preparations and instruments of war;
but safety is of the Lord; a horse is a vain thing for safety, Psalm 33:17; victory is only of the Lord; salvation depends upon him; it is he that covers men's heads in the day of battle, and gives them victory over their enemies: or "salvation is of the Lord" (o); this is true of spiritual and eternal salvation, as well as of temporal salvation; it is of the Lord, Father, Son and Spirit; and so is the safety of the saints; and their final perseverance to eternal glory, which is owing to the love of God, covenant interest, security in Christ, the grace of the Spirit, and the power of God; see Hosea 14:3.
(o) "a Domino autem (datur) salus". Tigurine version; "Domino est salvatio", Cocceius; "Jehovae est salus", Schultens; so Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Gejerus.

31 The horse is harnessed for the day of battle;
But with Jahve is the victory,
i.e., it remains with Him to give the victory or not, for the horse is a vain means of victory, Isaiah 33:17; the battle is the Lord's, 1-Samuel 17:47, i.e., it depends on Him how the battle shall issue; and king and people who have taken up arms in defence of their rights have thus to trust nothing in the multitude of their war-horses (סוּס, horses, including their riders), and generally in their preparations for the battle, but in the Lord (cf. Psalm 20:8, and, on the contrary, Isaiah 31:1). The lxx translates התּשׁוּעה by ἡ βοήθεια, as if the Arab. name of victory, naṣr, proceeding from this fundamental meaning, stood in the text; תשׁועה (from ישׁע, Arab. ws', to be wide, to have free space for motion) signifies properly prosperity, as the contrast of distress, oppression, slavery, and victory (cf. e.g., Psalm 144:10, and ישׁוּעה, 1-Samuel 14:45). The post-bibl. Hebrews. uses נצח (נצּחון) for victory; but the O.T. Hebrews. has no word more fully covering this idea than תשׁועה (ישׁועה).
(Note: In the old High German, the word for war is urlag (urlac), fate, because the issue is the divine determination, and nt (as in "der Nibelunge Not"), as binding, confining, restraint; this nt is the correlate to תשׁועה, victory; מלחמה corresponds most to the French guerre, which is not of Romanic, but of German origin: the Werre, i.e., the Gewirre [complication, confusion], for נלחם signifies to press against one another, to be engaged in close conflict; cf. the Homeric κλόνος of the turmoil of battle.)

The horse - Under which all war - like provisions are comprehended.

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