Proverbs 4:26-27

4:26 Make the path for your feet ¹  level, ² 

so that ³  all your ways may be established. ⁴ 

4:27 Do not turn ⁵  to the right or to the left;

turn yourself ⁶  away from evil. ⁷ 

Isaiah 35:3

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ⁸ 

Isaiah 35:8-10

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ⁹ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ¹⁰  –

fools ¹¹  will not stray into it.

35:9 No lions will be there,

no ferocious wild animals will be on it ¹²  –

they will not be found there.

Those delivered from bondage will travel on it,

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ¹³ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ¹⁴ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ¹⁵  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ¹⁶ 

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; ¹⁷ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ¹⁸ 

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

and level out the rough ground. ¹⁹ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Isaiah 58:12

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ²⁰ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ²¹ 

Jeremiah 18:15

18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me

and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!

This makes them stumble along in the way they live

and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ²² 

They have left them to walk in bypaths,

in roads that are not smooth and level. ²³ 

Luke 3:5

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ²⁴ 

and every mountain and hill will be brought low,

and the crooked will be made straight,

and the rough ways will be made smooth,

[4:26]  ¹ tn Heb “path of your foot.”

[4:26]  ² 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.

[4:26]  ³ tn The vav prefixed to the beginning of this dependent clause denotes purpose/result following the preceding imperative.

[4:26]  ⁴ 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.

[4:27]  ⁵ sn The two verbs in this verse are from different roots, but nonetheless share the same semantic domain. The first verb is תֵּט (tet), a jussive from נָטָה (natah), which means “to turn aside” (Hiphil); the second verb is the Hiphil imperative of סוּר (sur), which means “to cause to turn to the side” (Hiphil). The disciple is not to leave the path of righteousness; but to stay on the path he must leave evil.

[4:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “your foot” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) is a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= “yourself”).

[4:27]  ⁷ tc The LXX adds, “For the way of the right hand God knows, but those of the left hand are distorted; and he himself will make straight your paths and guide your goings in peace.” The ideas presented here are not out of harmony with Proverbs, but the section clearly shows an expansion by the translator. For a brief discussion of whether this addition is Jewish or early Christian, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 99.

[35:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

[35:8]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ¹⁰ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ¹¹ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[35:9]  ¹² tn Heb “will go up on it”; TEV “will pass that way.”

[35:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[35:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[42:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[58:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ²¹ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.

[18:15]  ²² sn Heb “the ancient path.” This has already been referred to in Jer 6:16. There is another “old way” but it is the path trod by the wicked (cf. Job 22:15).

[18:15]  ²³ sn Heb “ways that are not built up.” This refers to the built-up highways. See Isa 40:4 for the figure. The terms “way,” “by-paths,” “roads” are, of course, being used here in the sense of moral behavior or action.

[3:5]  ²⁴ sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.