For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.
Parallel Translations
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For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.
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For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
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For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; let them be established altogether upon thy lips.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Proverbs 22:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of Armies.
- Proverbs 2:10 For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
- Proverbs 8:6 Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.
- Psalms 119:103 How sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth!
- Proverbs 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.
- Proverbs 15:7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.
- John 7:38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
- Job 32:18-19 For I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.
- Psalms 19:10 They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.
- Psalms 119:13 With my lips, I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth.
- Psalms 119:111 I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
- Psalms 119:162 I rejoice at your word, as one who finds great plunder.
- Psalms 119:171 Let my lips utter praise, for you teach me your statutes.
- Proverbs 3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace.
- Proverbs 10:13 Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.
- Proverbs 16:21 The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.
- Proverbs 24:13-14 My son, eat honey, for it is good, the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste; so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul. If you have found it, then there will be a reward: Your hope will not be cut off.
- Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
- Hebrews 13:15 Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.
- Malachi 2:7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 22:18 For [it is] a pleasant thing if…
Pro 22:18 For [it is] a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
Ver. 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee.] Heb., In thy belly; that is, in thine inwards. Truth it is, that St John found the little book he ate - whether we understand it of the revelation only, or of the whole Bible, which Bishop Bonner’s chaplain called in scorn his little pretty God’s book, it much matters not - bitter in his belly, though sweet in his mouth, {Rev 10:10} because ministers find it grievous to be kept from making known the whole counsel of God to their people. But the word of God attentively heard, and by a later meditation well digested and incorporated into the soul, is sweeter than honey, as David felt it; and yields more pleasure than all the tasteless fooleries of this present world.
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They shall withal be fitted in thy lips.] Thou shalt need no other help to discourse: thou shalt get a singular dexterity and volubility of holy language, being able to utter thy mind in pure Scripture - Loquamur verba Scripturae, saith that incomparable Peter Ramus, utamur sermone Spiritus Sancti - thou shalt "so speak and so do, as one that must be judged by that law of liberty." {Jas 2:12}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If thou keep them, the words of the wise,…
If thou keep them, the words of the wise, within thee, Heb. in thy belly. i.e. in thine heart, which implies receiving them in love, and retaining them in mind and memory.
Be fitted; be fitly expressed; or, be disposed or ordered. The sense is, When thou hast got them into thine heart, thou wilt be able and ready to discourse pertinently and profitably of them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep…
For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee,.... Or, "in thy belly" (a). That is, in thine heart, in the inmost recesses of it; where the words or doctrines of the wise should be received in the love of them, and carefully laid up and retained; which will upon reflection yield much pleasure, like Ezekiel's roll, which was in his belly as honey for sweetness; and which also is very profitable as an antidote against sin, Psa 119:11;
they shall withal be fitted in thy lips; become them, and be suitable and graceful to them: or, "shall be ordered and disposed in" or "by thy lips" (b); being received into the heart, and digested there, they shall easily and freely go off the tongue, which shall be as the pen of a ready writer; they shall be delivered in a regular manner, with great liberty and facility; by a good digestion of Gospel truths, and a comfortable experience of them, persons become apt to teach others.
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(a) "in ventre tuo", V. L. Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis, Schultens. (b) "disponantur", Vatablus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Fitted - Fitly expressed: thou wilt be able to…
Fitted - Fitly expressed: thou wilt be able to discourse profitably of them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. For it is a pleasant thing if…
Verse 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee]
II. The pleasure and profit which may be derived from an attentive hearing.
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1. They should be laid up in the heart - stored, treasured up within thee.
2. This will yield high satisfaction and happiness to the soul: "For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee."
3. The man who thus attends to the teachings of wisdom shall gain an experimental knowledge of them, so as to be able to speak of them suitably, pertinently and persuasively. "They shall withal be fitted in thy lips."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain What is “pleasant” in the sight of God and…
What is “pleasant” in the sight of God and man is the union of two things, belief passing into profession, profession resting on belief.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lips. Out of the abundance of the heart the…
Lips. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain These lessons must be laid up in the mind,…
These lessons must be laid up in the mind, and
fitted--or better, "fixed" in the lips so as to be ever ready.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. For it is (better, it will be) a…
18. For it is (better, it will be) a pleasant thing, etc. — The latter clause should probably have the conditional particle carried forward — if they shall be altogether established upon thy lips. The idea is, that they should be committed to memory, and become so familiar that the lips can readily utter them. “If they are ready, all of them, on thy lips.” — Conant.
Within thee — Literally, in thy bowels.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 18. they shall withal be fitted in] Rather, if…
18. they shall withal be fitted in] Rather, if they be established together upon, R.V.; i.e. if being kept securely in thy heart they dwell constantly on thy lips.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (18) They shall withal be fitted in thy lips.—Rather,…
(18) They shall withal be fitted in thy lips.—Rather, if they be established (dwell constantly) upon thy lips. They are to be as a watch, and “keep the door of his lips” against sin (Psa_141:3), to teach him what to say in difficulty (Mar_13:11), how to speak without fear even before kings (Psa_119:46); by them the “praises of God” will ever be in his mouth (Psa_149:6).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This verse gives the reason for the previous exhortation.…
This verse gives the reason for the previous exhortation. It is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; in thy mind and memory. (comp. Pro_18:8 Pro_20:27) Thus Psa_147:1, "It is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely." They shall withal be fitted in thy lips. This rendering hardly suits the hortatory nature of the introduction. It is better to take the clause in the optative, as Delitzsch, Ewald, Nowack, and ethers: "Let them abide altogether upon thy lips;" i.e. be not ashamed to profess them openly, let them regulate thy words, teach thee wisdom and discretion. Septuagint, "And if thou admit them to thy heart, they shall likewise gladden thee on thy lips."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 18. For it is a pleasant thing if…
v. 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, the words of the wise serving to give true delight; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips, abiding there and exerting their authority.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.