Texts in Conversation
Hebrews reuses language from Proverbs about making a straight path for one’s feet, turning a lesson in wisdom into encouragement for a community to stay steady and focused. Proverbs uses the image to describe a life guided by wise choices, and Hebrews applies it to moral endurance
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Proverbs 4:26
Hebrew Bible
24 Remove perverse speech from your mouth; keep devious talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look directly in front of you,and let your gaze look straight before you. 26 Make the path for your feet level, so that all your ways may be established. 27 Do not turn to the right or to the left;turn yourself away from evil.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Hebrews 12:13
New Testament
11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, for without it no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up and causing trouble, and through it many become defiled.
Date: 80-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... the phrase ‘and live’ in Hebrews 12:9 could have Proverbs 3:2 as background, which refers to ‘length of days and years of life’ (μῆκος … βίου καὶ ἔτη ζωῆς). This possibility is strengthened by the fact that the passages contain a parallel in the words εἰρήνη (Proverbs 3:2) and εἰρηνικός (Hebrews 12:10). Although it is a bit of a stretch, Proverbs 4:26 LXX is referred to in Hebrews 12:13, which strengthens the possibility of Proverbs as background ..."
Coetsee, A.J.
Hebrews 12:9 Revisited: The Background of the Phrase "and live"
(pp. 1-11) HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 76(1), 2020
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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