The way of the righteous is level; thou dost make smooth the path of the righteous: These two lines are parallel and synonymous. They use figurative language to say the LORD makes life go well for those who obey him. Way and path are images for the manner in which people live their daily lives. The Hebrew term rendered way is the same one translated “path” in the next verse. (The word for path in this verse is different.) If possible, translators should render it the same way in both verses to reflect the repetition in the Hebrew text. For righteous see 3.10.

The Hebrew word translated level is a plural form of the abstract noun meaning “evenness.” It is used here as an adjective. It can also mean “straight” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). It is parallel with the verb make smooth.

The pronoun thou refers to the LORD, who is addressed in the next verse. Since a new subsection begins here, many languages will need to make the LORD explicit here, as in Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

In Masoretic Text the initial Hebrew word of the second line is the word for “upright.” Revised Standard Version only refers to it in a footnote, but some translations express it in the text as a divine title; for example, “O Just One” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “O upright One” (New International Version). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends keeping the word by rendering it “smooth.” For the second line it has “you level smooth the path of the righteous.” New Jerusalem Bible renders it “honest,” saying “you smooth the honest way of the upright.” All these are valid options.

Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reverse the order of the two lines in this verse, so that Yahweh’s actions are mentioned before their outcome. Other languages may find this helpful.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The way for the righteous is made level;
you, LORD, smooth out the path for the righteous.*

• Straight is the way you make for the righteous;
you, LORD, make level the path for the righteous.*

* In Hebrew this line begins with a word that may be rendered “Upright One,” referring to the LORD.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .