Psalms 25:8-10

25:8 The Lord is both kind and fair; ¹ 

that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live. ² 

25:9 May he show ³  the humble what is right! ⁴ 

May he teach ⁵  the humble his way!

25:10 The Lord always proves faithful and reliable ⁶ 

to those who follow the demands of his covenant. ⁷ 

Psalms 25:12

25:12 The Lord shows his faithful followers

the way they should live. ⁸ 

Psalms 85:10-13

85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; ⁹ 

deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. ¹⁰ 

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky. ¹¹ 

85:12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, ¹² 

and our land will yield ¹³  its crops.

85:13 Deliverance goes ¹⁴  before him,

and prepares ¹⁵  a pathway for him. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 3:17

3:17 Her ways are very pleasant, ¹⁷ 

and all her paths are peaceful.

Proverbs 8:20

8:20 I walk in the path of righteousness,

in the pathway of justice,

Isaiah 48:17

48:17 This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹⁸  says,

the Holy One of Israel: ¹⁹ 

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you how to succeed,

who leads you in the way you should go.

Isaiah 48:22

48:22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked,” says the Lord.

Isaiah 57:19-21

57:19 I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate. ²⁰ 

Complete prosperity ²¹  is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby,”

says the Lord, “and I will heal them.

57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea

that is unable to be quiet;

its waves toss up mud and sand.

57:21 There will be no prosperity,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 59:8

59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace;

their deeds are unjust. ²² 

They use deceitful methods,

and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ²³ 

Jeremiah 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ²⁴ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ²⁵ 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ²⁶  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ²⁷  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

Matthew 11:28-29

11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 11:29 Take my yoke ²⁸  on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Romans 3:17

3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” ²⁹ 

[25:8]  ¹ tn Heb “good and just.”

[25:8]  ² tn Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”

[25:9]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.

[25:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (’anavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.

[25:9]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).

[25:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “all the paths of the Lord are faithful and trustworthy.” The Lord’s “paths” refer here to his characteristic actions.

[25:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the ones who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

[25:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “Who is this man, the one who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The singular (note “man”) is representative here (see v. 14, where the plural is used), and has thus been translated as a plural (“followers…they”).

[85:10]  ⁹ tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.

[85:10]  ¹⁰ sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.

[85:11]  ¹¹ sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.

[85:12]  ¹² tn Heb “what is good.”

[85:12]  ¹³ tn Both “bestow” and “yield” translate the same Hebrew verb (נָתַן, natan). The repetition of the word emphasizes that agricultural prosperity is the direct result of divine blessing.

[85:13]  ¹⁴ tn Or “will go.”

[85:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will prepare.”

[85:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and it prepares for a way his footsteps.” Some suggest emending וְיָשֵׂם (vÿyasem, “and prepares”) to וְשָׁלוֹם (vÿshalom, “and peace”) since “deliverance” and “peace” are closely related earlier in v. 13. This could be translated, “and peace [goes ahead, making] a pathway for his footsteps” (cf. NEB).

[3:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “her ways are ways of pleasantness” (so KJV, NRSV). The present translation contracts this expression for the sake of smoothness. The plural of דֶרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is repeated for emphasis. The noun נֹעַם (no’am, “pleasantness”) functions as an attributive genitive: “pleasant ways.”

[48:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[48:17]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[57:19]  ²⁰ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “one who creates fruit of lips.” Perhaps the pronoun אֲנִי (’ani) should be inserted after the participle; it may have been accidentally omitted by haplography: נוּב שְׂפָתָיִם[אֲנִי] בּוֹרֵא (bore’ [’ani] nuv sÿfatayim). “Fruit of the lips” is often understood as a metonymy for praise; perhaps it refers more generally to joyful shouts (see v. 18).

[57:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “Peace, peace.” The repetition of the noun emphasizes degree.

[59:8]  ²² tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”

[59:8]  ²³ tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”

[6:16]  ²⁴ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”

[11:29]  ²⁸ sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.

[3:17]  ²⁹ sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.