As the opening word “for” indicates, this verse explains the reward for obeying the command to listen and learn in verse 17: the learner will have taken in the knowledge and will know it “by heart,” and this will bring pleasure.

“For it will be pleasant”: This refers to the good feeling that the learner will have. Other fairly literal renderings of the Hebrew are “will be a delight” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “will give pleasure” (Revised English Bible). “You will be glad” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) expresses the thought well.

“If you keep . . .”: Revised Standard Version “if” (ki in Hebrew) may be misunderstood in English in the rather complex structure of this sentence. The Hebrew ki generally means “that. . .,” “when. . .,” or “because. . .”; translations that use these terms are, for instance, “. . . glad that you know these sayings” (Contemporary English Version) and “. . . pleasing when you keep them in your heart” (New International Version). The sequence of thought in verses 17 and 18 may be expressed as follows:

(17) Pay attention . . . listen . . . apply . . . — (commands)
(18) because keeping these words in mind — (outcome 1 of obeying commands)

• and being able to say them — (outcome 2 of obeying commands)

• will give you pleasure. — (result of outcomes 1 and 2)

Revised English Bible restructures the first line of verse 18 in this way: “To keep them in your heart will give pleasure.”

“Keep them within you”: “Them” refers back to “words” and “knowledge” in the previous verse. “Within you” is literally “in your belly,” where “belly” is used in the same sense as “heart” in the previous verse, that is, to refer to the person’s mind or thoughts. In some languages an idiom like that in Hebrew may be used here; for example, “keep them in your insides”; but in many languages this is best expressed as “[these words] stay in your thinking.” Good News Translation “if you remember them” gets the sense well in English.

“If all of them are ready on your lips”: This line is the second outcome of obeying the command in the previous verse. It is literally “they are ready together on your lips.” “All of them” again refers back to the “words” in verse 17. “Lips” is a figure of speech for speaking; and although a number of English versions retain the literal “ready on your lips”, the sense is better expressed as “you can say them,” “can recite them” (Contemporary English Version), or “can quote them” (Good News Translation). Other translation models are “you can say them by heart” and “you can tell them to others.”

A typical translation that restructures the whole verse following the outline given above says, “When you think about them all the time and you can say them by heart, you will have a good feeling.”

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 .