Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ¹ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ² 

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

and level out the rough ground. ³ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 45:2

45:2 “I will go before you

and level mountains. ⁴ 

Bronze doors I will shatter

and iron bars ⁵  I will hack through.

Proverbs 2:15

2:15 whose paths ⁶  are morally crooked, ⁷ 

and who are devious ⁸  in their ways;

[42:16]  ¹ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ² tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ³ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[45:2]  ⁴ tc The form הֲדוּרִים (hadurim) makes little, if any, sense here. It is probably a corruption of an original הָרָרִים (hararim, “mountains”), the reduplicated form of הָר (har, “mountain”).

[45:2]  ⁵ tn That is, on the gates. Cf. CEV “break the iron bars on bronze gates.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn The noun in this relative clause is an accusative of specification: The evil people are twisted with respect to their paths/conduct.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “crooked.” The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh, “crooked; twisted”) uses the morphological pattern of adjectives that depict permanent bodily defects, e.g., blindness, lameness. Their actions are morally defective and, apart from repentance, are permanently crooked and twisted.

[2:15]  ⁸ tn The Niphal participle of לוּז (luz, “devious; crooked”) describes conduct that is morally deceptive, crafty, and cunning (Isa 30:12).