² tn Heb “I will hedge up her way”; cf. NIV “block her path.”

² tn Heb “their paths they make crooked; everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”

² tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

² tn Heb “[is] a lamp for my foot and a light for my path.”

¹ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

¹ 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).

² tn Heb “at the house of the paths.” The “house” is not literal here, but refers to where the paths meet (cf. ASV, NIV), that is, the “crossroads” (so NAB, NRSV, NLT).

¹ sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

¹ sn This call to “make his paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

³ sn The call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

¹ sn The imagery refers to the way or path of truth, as revealed by God to the prophet.

³ tn Heb “the path of life.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “of life”) functions as a genitive of direction (“leading to”).

² tn Heb “paths of righteousness.” The word “righteousness” is a possessive genitive, signifying the ways that the righteous take.

¹ tn Heb “and the ones making their paths twisted.” A sinful lifestyle is compared to a twisting, winding road.

³ sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.

² tn Or “but after it are the ways of death.” The phrase “ways of death” features the result of these paths. Here death means ruin (cf. Prov 7:27). Possibly the proverb envisions that the initial path which seemed good leads to other paths whose outcomes are all ruinous.

² tn Heb “paths of uprightness.” The noun יָשָׁר (yashar, “uprightness; straightness”) is an attributive genitive. The moral life is described in Proverbs as the smooth, straight way (2:13; 4:11). The wicked abandon the clear straight path for an evil, crooked, uncertain path.

⁷ sn The Hebrew noun translated “equity” comes from the root יָשָׁר (yashar) which has the basic idea of “upright, straight, right.” It refers to activity that is morally upright and straight, that is, on the proper moral path. Elsewhere it is used in a concrete sense to describe cows walking straight down a path without turning right or left (1 Sam 6:12). Wisdom literature often uses the motif of the straight path to describe a morally “straight” life.

³ sn The word translated present path is the same as that which has been translated [this] age in 1:21 (αἰών, aiōn).

² 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 (n^etivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (n^etitsot, “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.