1 “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.
2 “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.
3 “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison—“like channels of water.” Cf. “Like a stream”; “watercourse”; , “a stream of water.” The farmer channels irrigation ditches where he wants them, where they will do the most good; so does the Lord with the king. No king is supreme; the Lord rules.
4 Heb “in his own eyes.” The term “eyes” is a metonymy for estimation, opinion, evaluation.
5 Heb “weighs” (so , , ); “examines”; , “judges.”
6 Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives ( 660–61 6–7. Even though people think they know themselves, the Lord evaluates motives as well (e.g., Prov 16:2).
7 The Niphal participle בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”) means “choice to the Lord” or “chosen of the Lord,” meaning “acceptable to the Lord”; cf. “pleases the Lord more.”
8 The Lord prefers righteousness above religious service (e.g., Prov 15:8; 21:29; 1 Sam 15:22; Ps 40:6–8; Isa 1:11–17). This is not a rejection of ritual worship; rather, religious acts are without value apart from righteous living.

In other versions

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;

he turns it wherever he will.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the heart.

To do righteousness and justice

is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water

that he channels toward all who please him.

A person may think their own ways are right,

but the Lord weighs the heart.

To do what is right and just

is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

A king’s heart is like channeled water in the Lord’s hand:

He directs it wherever he chooses.

All a person’s ways seem right to him,

but the Lord weighs hearts.

Doing what is righteous and just

is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord;

he guides it wherever he pleases.

People may be right in their own eyes,

but the Lord examines their heart.

The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just

than when we offer him sacrifices.

Streams of water are the heart of a king in the hand of Yahweh;

wherever he will desire, he will turn.

Every way of a man is upright in his own eyes,

but Yahweh weighs hearts.

Doing righteousness and justice is more acceptable

to Yahweh than sacrifice.

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water:

He turneth it whithersoever he will.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:

But the Lord pondereth the hearts.

To do justice and judgment

Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

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