Path; Pathway
Path; Pathway [1]
path , path´wā ( ארח , 'ōraḥ , נתיבה , nethı̄bhāh , etc.; τρίβος , trı́bos , τροχιά , trochiá ):
(1) In the Old Testament. - I n addition to its obvious literal sense (e.g. Genesis 49:17 ), it has very frequently a figurative meaning. ( a ) As applied to man, a course or manner of life: (i) man's outward lot in life, his career or destiny, whether of the just man ( Isaiah 26:7 ) or of the ungodly ( Job 8:13 ); (ii) frequently in an ethical sense, of men's conduct or inward life-purpose, whether it be good or evil (e.g. Proverbs 2:15 ), generally accompanied by a term defining the moral quality of the conduct, either an abstract noun (e.g. "the paths of uprightness," Proverbs 2:13; Proverbs 4:11; "the paths of justice," Proverbs 2:8; Isaiah 40:14; "the paths of life," Psalm 16:11; Proverbs 2:19 ), or a concrete adjective or noun (e.g. "crooked paths," Isaiah 59:8; "the paths of the righteous," Proverbs 2:20; Proverbs 4:18 ). ( b ) The term is also applied to God either (i) of the methods of the Divine Providence, God's dealings with men ( Psalm 25:10; Psalm 65:11 ), or (ii) of the principles and maxims of religion and morality divinely revealed to man ("Show me thy ways, [[O Y]] ahweh, teach me thy paths," Psalm 25:4; compare Isaiah 2:3 ).
(2) In the Apocrypha we have the "paths" of Wisdom ( tribos , Baruch 3:21,31 ); the "path" shown to men by the Law ( semita , 2 Esdras 14:22); and a man's "paths" ( tribos , Tobit 4:10 ).
(3) In the New Testament the word occurs only in Matthew 3:3 and parallel passages Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4 (of the forerunner's work), and in Hebrews 12:13 (in the Old Testament ethical sense).
Pathway occurs in Proverbs 12:28 ( derekh nethı̄bhāh ) and The Wisdom of Solomon 5:10 ( atrapós ). See Way .
