Texts in Conversation
Hebrews uses language from Proverbs about making a straight path for one’s feet, turning a lesson in wisdom into encouragement for a community to stay faithful. Proverbs describes a life guided by wise choices, and Hebrews applies it to endurance.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Proverbs 4:26
Septuagint
25 Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids assent to just things. 26 Make straight paths for your feet, and order your ways aright. 27 Do not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away your foot from an evil way: 27a for God knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are crooked: 27b and he will make your ways straight, and will guide your steps in peace.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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 CE (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 ..."
Albert J. Coetsee, “Hebrews 12:9 Revisited: The Background of the Phrase ‘and Live’,” HvTSt 76.1 (2020): 1–11.
* 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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