21:31

This proverb is a specific military example that is related to the general truth of 21:30. It contrasts human preparations for battle with the ultimate source of victory—the LORD.

31a
A horse is prepared for the day of battle,

31b but victory is of the LORD.

21:31a

A horse is prepared for the day of battle: This clause refers to a situation in which soldiers rode in war chariots that were pulled by horses. Soldiers prepared the horses for the fight by fastening protective armor on them and harnessing them to the chariots. An army with horses had a definite advantage over an army that had only soldiers on foot.

A horse was literally prepared for battle. In this proverb, the word horse is also a figure of speech (synecdoche). It represents all the other human plans, preparations, and equipment that were intended to help the army win the battle. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

• Refer literally to preparing horses for battle. For example:

You can get horses ready for battle (Good News Translation)

• Refer more generally to other preparations for battle. For example:

An army may be well trained and have many weapons

If the significance of preparing horses for battle is not well understood, you may want to add a footnote that gives additional information. For example:

At that time, some soldiers rode in chariots/carts that were pulled by horses. Armies that had many horses and chariots were hard to defeat in a battle.

21:31b

but victory is of the LORD: In Hebrew, this clause has no verb. It is literally “but to the LORD the victory.” The contrast with the preceding line is that an army cannot depend on its weapons or training to give them victory. Rather, it is the LORD who causes an army to defeat its enemies. Some other ways to emphasize this contrast are:

but it is the Lord who gives victory (Good News Translation)
-or-
but the LORD is the one who causes an army to win the battle

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