Isaiah 11:16

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ¹ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ²  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 19:23

19:23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ³ 

Isaiah 40:3-4

40:3 A voice cries out,

“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

40:4 Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ⁴ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ⁵ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ⁶ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 49:11-12

49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;

I will construct my roadways.”

49:12 Look, they come from far away!

Look, some come from the north and west,

and others from the land of Sinim! ⁷ 

Isaiah 57:14

57:14 He says, ⁸ 

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

Isaiah 62:10

62:10 Come through! Come through the gates!

Prepare the way for the people!

Build it! Build the roadway!

Remove the stones!

Lift a signal flag for the nations!

Jeremiah 31:21

31:21 I will say, ⁹  ‘My dear children of Israel, ¹⁰  keep in mind

the road you took when you were carried off. ¹¹ 

Mark off in your minds the landmarks.

Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back.

Return, my dear children of Israel.

Return to these cities of yours.

John 14:6

14:6 Jesus replied, ¹²  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. ¹³  No one comes to the Father except through me.

Hebrews 10:20-23

10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us ¹⁴  through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ¹⁵  10:21 and since we have a great priest ¹⁶  over the house of God, 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ¹⁷  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ¹⁸  and our bodies washed in pure water. 10:23 And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy.

[11:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ² tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[19:23]  ³ tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.

[42:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[49:12]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).

[57:14]  ⁸ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.

[31:21]  ⁹ tn The words “I will say” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to mark the transition from the address about Israel in a response to Rachel’s weeping (vv. 15-20) to a direct address to Israel which is essentially the answer to Israel’s prayer of penitence (cf. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 121.)

[31:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Virgin Israel.” For the significance see the study note on 31:3.

[31:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Set your mind to the highway, the way which you went.” The phrase “the way you went” has been translated “the road you took when you were carried off” to help the reader see the reference to the exile implicit in the context. The verb “which you went” is another example of the old second feminine singular which the Masoretes typically revocalize (Kethib הָלָכְתִּי [halakhti]; Qere הָלָכְתְּ [halakht]). The vocative has been supplied in the translation at the beginning to help make the transition from third person reference to Ephraim/Israel in the preceding to second person in the following and to identify the referent of the imperatives. Likewise, this line has been moved to the front to show that the reference to setting up sign posts and landmarks is not literal but figurative, referring to making a mental note of the way they took when carried off so that they can easily find their way back. Lines three and four in the Hebrew text read, “Set up sign posts for yourself; set up guideposts/landmarks for yourself.” The word translated “telltale signs marking the way” occurs only here. Though its etymology and precise meaning are unknown, all the lexicons agree in translating it as “sign post” or something similar based on the parallelism.

[14:6]  ¹² tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:6]  ¹³ tn Or “I am the way, even the truth and the life.”

[10:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “that he inaugurated for us as a fresh and living way,” referring to the entrance mentioned in v. 19.

[10:20]  ¹⁵ sn Through his flesh. In a bold shift the writer changes from a spatial phrase (Christ opened the way through the curtain into the inner sanctuary) to an instrumental phrase (he did this through [by means of] his flesh in his sacrifice of himself), associating the two in an allusion to the splitting of the curtain in the temple from top to bottom (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). Just as the curtain was split, so Christ’s body was broken for us, to give us access into God’s presence.

[10:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and a great priest,” continuing the construction begun in v. 19.

[10:22]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ¹⁸ sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).