A path is a course along which someone travels, and this noun can also describe the course of a person's conduct. Psalm 119:105 places the path beside feet and a lamp: God's word supplies light for the worshiper's way while the surrounding verses describe commitment and affliction.
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Full entry for נָתִיב (H5410) · Open the biblical lexicon
A path is a course along which someone travels, and this noun can also describe the course of a person's conduct. Psalm 119:105 places the path beside feet and a lamp: God's word supplies light for the worshiper's way while the surrounding verses describe commitment and affliction.
The BSB source-word alignment has 26 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (3), paths (3), the paths (2), a path (1), and a path (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Judges 5:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Job (7), Proverbs (6), Isaiah (4), Psalms (4).
A path is a course along which someone travels, and this noun can also describe the course of a person's conduct. Psalm 119:105 places the path beside feet and a lamp: God's word supplies light for the worshiper's way while the surrounding verses describe commitment and affliction. Proverbs 3:17 speaks of wisdom's peaceful paths, setting the figure within the praise of wisdom.
Isaiah 42:16 promises that the Lord will lead the blind along unfamiliar paths, making guidance an act of divine faithfulness rather than a celebration of human control. A path therefore draws attention to movement, direction and the one who guides it. It does not promise that every decision will become obvious or that obedience removes hardship. Read the particular traveler, destination and guiding voice before turning a path into an application.
This track imagery spans wisdom, prayer and prophetic guidance. The witnesses distinguish instruction for a worshiper's conduct, wisdom's character and God's promise to lead those unable to find the way themselves.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
The lamp and light picture accompanies commitment to God's judgments and ongoing affliction; illumination guides obedience without promising a trouble-free journey.
All her ways are pleasant, and all her paths are peaceful.
Peaceful paths belong to wisdom personified within a sustained commendation of her value; they are not a guarantee of pleasant circumstances for every wise person.
I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.
God promises to guide the blind through unfamiliar paths and not forsake them; the neighboring rejection of idols identifies the trustworthy guide.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. A worn path created by repeated passage; metaphorically, the habitual course or manner of life
A worn path created by repeated passage; metaphorically, the habitual course or manner of life
a (beaten) track BDB: path Usage: path(-way), × travel(-ler), way.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 26 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Psalm 119:105 gives the worshiper enough reason to keep walking by God's word, but the next verses do not depict an untroubled traveler. A renewed commitment to righteous judgments stands alongside severe affliction. The lamp image therefore belongs to obedient dependence, not a promise that the entire landscape is visible at once. Isaiah 42:16 develops another aspect of guidance: people who cannot discover the way themselves are not abandoned by the Lord.
Teachers can place these texts beside one another without collapsing their settings. Scripture directs our conduct, and God's faithfulness invites trust beyond our limited sight. That trust permits patient counsel and ordinary planning; it does not justify announcing that every personal preference is a revealed path from God.
Ps.119.105
A physical track provides the image for a course of conduct, but the noun alone does not identify the course as righteous. The possessive phrases, surrounding actions and speakers determine the evaluation.
The Psalms and wisdom texts use paths to describe directed living, and Isaiah emphasizes God's initiative in guiding the blind. John 14:6 centers access to the Father in Jesus Himself. The passages can be compared canonically, but a Hebrew track does not by itself establish Christ's mediatorial claim or a Greek translation relationship.