Proverbs 11:30 … He who wins Souls (01/18/17)
“He who wins Souls is saved.” ~ unknown (Proverbs 11:30)
This is a quite the fascinating verse, if for no other reason than no one knows what it actually means to this very day …
*The King James Bible (KJV) translates its Hebrew both as “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and yet he who wins Souls is wise” and also as “The righteous shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth” …
*The incredibly popular (and often highly inaccurate) New International Version (NIV) translates it as “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but he who is wise saves lives” …
*And the relatively rare (and most neutral in its scholarship) New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translates it as “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.”
Not only are all these translations radically different, but each is relatively unclear in its own right. That having been said, when we look to the ancient Hebrew used in the latter half of this verse, we see that the phrase “he who wins” comes from the Hebrew word “laqach” – a term which also means “he who commandeers” or “he who leads” (Strong’s #3947), and as such this verse could very well imply a meaning that harmonizes with The Way of Christ – namely, that the divine fruit of Peace & Joy come to those who “lead” other Souls by example to the Light of selfless Love.
Amen … Let it be so.
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