And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Parallel translations
- WEB and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
- BSB Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
- NKJV and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
- NASB and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
- NLT Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be put out of joint but healed. Live in a way that helps the weak recover rather than stumble.
Overview
Drawing on Proverbs 4:26, the author urges a straight, steady course in the Christian life. Such faithfulness protects those who are spiritually "lame"—the weak and wavering—so that they are restored rather than driven further astray. The pursuit of holiness is not merely personal but considers the good of fellow believers, helping them toward healing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 4:26–27Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
- Gal 6:1Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
- Isa 35:3Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
- Isa 40:3–4The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
- Isa 35:6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
- Jude 1:22–23And of some have compassion, making a difference:
- Jas 5:16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
- Luke 3:5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
- Jer 31:8–9Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
- Isa 42:16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
- Isa 35:8–10And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
- Jer 18:15Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
- Isa 58:12And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 12:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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