and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but 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.
- KJV And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it 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.
- 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 4:26–27Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.
- Gal 6:1Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
- Isa 35:3Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
- Isa 40:3–4The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
- Isa 35:6Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- Jude 1:22–23On some have compassion, making a distinction,
- Jas 5:16Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
- Luke 3:5Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.
- Jer 31:8–9Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.
- Isa 42:16I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.
- Isa 35:8–10A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
- Jer 18:15For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. They have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up;
- Isa 58:12Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.