4:25 Let your eyes look directly 1 in front of you
and let your gaze 2 look straight before you.
4:26 Make the path for your feet 3 level, 4
so that 5 all your ways may be established. 6
1 tn The jussives in this verse are both Hiphil, the first from the verb “to gaze; to look intently [or, carefully],” (נָבַט, navat) and the second from the verb “to be smooth, straight” (יָשָׁר, yashar).
2 tn Heb “your eyelids.” The term “eyelids” is often a poetic synonym for “eye” (it is a metonymy of adjunct, something connected with the eye put for the eye that sees); it may intensify the idea as one might squint to gain a clearer look.
3 tn Heb “path of your foot.”
4 sn The verb is a denominative Piel from the word פֶּלֶס (peles), “balance; scale.” In addition to telling the disciple to keep focused on a righteous life, the sage tells him to keep his path level, which is figurative for living the righteous life.
5 tn The vav prefixed to the beginning of this dependent clause denotes purpose/result following the preceding imperative.
6 tn The Niphal jussive from כּוּן (cun, “to be fixed; to be established; to be steadfast”) continues the idiom of walking and ways for the moral sense in life.