He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.
He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good; and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. The Syriac, Chaldaic, and Vulgate translate, 'He who intelligently attends to the Word of God, not only to understand it, but also to obey it, as contrasted with profane rashness or negligence in, respect to it. Thus, "whoso trusteth in the Lord" is strictly parallel (cf. Proverbs 13:13; Nehemiah 8:13; Daniel 9:13). But the Septuagint and Arabic support the English version.
Moreover, it is more usual in Proverbs that each word in one clause should not have its exact counterpart in the parallel clause, but that it should be left to the shrewdness of the reader or hearer to supply one clause out of the other. Thus, "He that handleth a matter (i:e., his business) wisely" needs to be supplemented by the additional thought to be conjoined with it-namely, he must 'trust in the Lord,' not merely depend on his own sagacity, if he is both, "to find good" and be "happy." And vice versa, "whoso trusteth in the Lord" must not fold his hands in idleness, but 'handle wisely a matter' (i:e., his business) if he is to be "happy," and also to "find good."