At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; But a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5).
“The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5, ESV).
Depending on which way you translate or read this proverb, you will apply the role of counselor and counselee to different people. In the KJV, this could be read as saying the quiet one has good counsel to give, but it takes a bit of work to get it out of him.
People who are garrulous, and who like to hear themselves talk, are not likely to make good counselors. They are too quick with observations, too ready to vent at a moment’s notice. Like Mary in Pride and Prejudice, they are always ready to misapply a choice aphorism. A counselor who has something worthwhile to say might not be the chatty type. He might not be eager to say it. A man of understanding will be diligent to seek out that counsel anyway.
Taken the way the ESV reads, the counselor is the one who does the drawing out. This would apply in situations where the one receiving counsel doesn’t think that he knows what to do in a troubled situation. But he actually does know what to do, but it has not yet come up to his conscious mind. He knows deep down, but has not yet been able to articulate it to himself. A man of understanding, a wise counselor, is able to piece together various things this person has said, and draw out what that man already knows he is going to do.
Both scenarios happen in the real world, but I think it makes the best sense to read it the way the ESV does.
