The theme of this saying is that it is wise to take advice when making plans or considering an undertaking as serious as going to war. The verse consists of two parallel lines that express similar thoughts; the individual terms of the two lines match each other, although their order is different in the Hebrew. For similar thoughts to those here, see 11.14 and 15.22.
“Plans are established by counsel”: “Plans”, as in 15.22, means the ideas or thoughts that someone proposes to act on. For “counsel” see 1.25. As the Hebrew stands the line is a statement, an observation of what holds true in life, namely that “counsel” or advice is necessary if a person is to be successful in what he or she “Plans” to do. There is a suggestion that the verb “established” should be taken as an imperative, “Make your plans by seeking advice” (New International Version); and in any case the intention of the statement is to advise readers what they should do if they are wise, so an imperative is quite appropriate in translation. Contemporary English Version expresses the sense well: “Be sure you have sound advice before making plans.” :Another way to render the line is to use a conditional clause: “If you want to succeed in what you do, get good advice first.”
“By wise guidance wage war”: The term translated “wise guidance”, which is parallel to “counsel” in the first line, is derived from the action of steering or directing a ship, and has the sense of (wise) advice about the way to go in an undertaking. In “wage war” the verb is the imperative of the common verb “do” or “make.” As in the first line the sense here is that getting wise advice is necessary if a leader is to be successful in war. However, we may note that there is a movement from the more general term “Plans” in the first line to a particular instance of planning in the second line, namely the dangerous undertaking of making “war”. There may therefore be a progression of thought in the whole saying: “While it is necessary to get sound advice when making all kinds of plans, it is most necessary in the case of going to war.” Some interpreters believe that “wage war” is to be understood as a metaphor for succeeding in the struggle of life, in which case the two lines both refer to life in general.
Most English versions maintain the structure of two parallel lines. Contemporary English Version avoids the repetition, however, by saying “Be sure you have sound advice before making plans or starting a war.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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