Septuagint - Proverbs 16:7-
“He that seeks the Lord shall find knowledge with righteousness: and they that rightly seek him shall find peace.”
NKJV- Proverbs 16:7-
"When a man's ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. ... "
It is an unusual thing that these two verses should be translated in such different ways. The second is how I learned it, how it is updated from the KJV to the NKJV. I have misunderstood the gravity of this verse because I foolishly believed that simply being in Christ meant that my ways pleased the Lord and thus expected my enemies to be at peace with me…which they weren’t. When we illuminate the Greek translation of the verse as presented in the first version of the same verse, we can see that there is not only a human element to the direction given but a level of depth not otherwise displayed. The Greek version presented by the Septuagint further highlights the New Testament verse:
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." [Mat 6:33 NKJV]
To seek the Lord is to seek the Kingdom of God, to seek the Lord is to find knowledge that accompanies righteousness. When knowledge accompanies righteousness, the manifestation is the Kingdom of God. The addition, in the second half of the verse that the Lord can be sought rightly, implies that the Lord can be sought “wrongly.” This, wrongly seeking the Lord, is what I was guilty of personally. I sought Him for my salvation, and He was found by me for this purpose, but I did not wish to seek Him for the purpose of changing my actions and thus manifesting the Kingdom of God. This is precisely the reason that my enemies were not at peace with me. The concept of enemies being at peace with one another is best expressed as repayment or compensation and further protection from harm. It goes much farther than just exhibiting friendship. To that end, the Septuagint translation offers a more detailed understanding in that it magnifies that the state of the heart of the man is the key designation in whether or not the man will be restored and thus experience peace.
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