Proverbs 3:6 – ESV
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:6
6 In all your ways know him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Mishlei מִשְׁלֵי (Proverbs) 3:6
בכל־דרכיך דעהו והוא יישר ארחתיך׃
In striving to progress toward a goal, acquire knowledge of him, and he will form your interactions with people.
Mark 12:29-31
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
For those who want to know how I got there, the details are below.
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The two verbs (always the driving force in Hebrew):
ידע GLOSS qal: know; niphal: be known; piel: cause to know; pual: be known; hithpael: make oneself known; hiphil: make known; hophal: be made known; poel: be caused to know PARSING Hebrew, verb, qal, imperative, masculine, singular, pronomial suffix: 3rd person, masculine, singular CODE @vqvmsX3ms – BHS Parsing
EDBH p.101 ידע acquire knowledge; know CM acquire/cast off
NOTE that the first listed phonetic cognate is ירה p.101 cast; project upward, which is the root for תורה, Torah, teaching
ישׁר GLOSS qal: be straight, go straight; be pleasing; piel: make straight; make smooth; pual: be made smooth; plate; hiphil: look straight ahead; level PARSING Hebrew, verb, piel, imperfect, 3rd person, masculine, singular CODE @vpi3ms – BHS Parsing
EDBH p.112 ישר straighten CM expand/limit
Variant – p.271 שרר concentrate strength CM apply/withhold pressure
Phonetic cognate of ישר > p.108 יצר compress; form CM expand/limit, listed (so we don’t miss the point) in ישר and יצר in Gn2:7, “then יהוה formed the man of dust from the ground•••”
The other words besides the verbs:
בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶ֥יךָ
בְּ GLOSS in, on, at; with; through; among; when; in exchange for
+
GV p.119 כלל complete [by including everything]; p.118 כלה strive [to attain]; p.118 כלא restrain [prevent]; p.116 כול contain [a measured quantity]; p.104 יכל prevail; p.156 נכל plot [harm; endanger through veiled acts]
DV אכל – p.119 כלל complete [by including everything]; p.118 כלה strive [to attain] > p.9 אכל consume
+
p.53 דרך step forward; progress toward a goal. CM move forward incrementally
ארחתיך
אֹרַח GLOSS way, path; behavior PARSING Hebrew, noun, common, both, plural, construct, pronomial suffix: 2nd person, masculine, singular CODE @ncbpcX2ms – BHS Parsing
EDBH p.16 ארח interact; associate with people CM absorb/expel
DV ארח – p.241 רוח extend > p.16 ארח interact; associate with people
GV p.241 רוח force [open] space [spread]; p.244 ריח separate [particles]; p.110 ירח impact
In striving to progress toward a goal, know him, acquire knowledge of him (the “him” is in verse five, יהוה), and he will form/strengthen your interactions with people.
Please interpret this how it touches you. I will tell you how it touches me. It tells me that our attempts at changing behavior toward people by legislation, media agendas, etc., is focusing on symptoms. The cause of the illness is that we don’t know God. If we just focus on getting to know him, our behavior, our interactions, will be straightened. Only God can make the needed changes in our hearts. Only heart change will make lasting change.
Look really closely at the verb יצר. Much could be said. I will make only two points. The first is that God “forms us,” as in Gn2:7. The second is that Egypt, where the Hebrew people dwelt for 400 years and became slaves, is the word Mitzrayim מצרימ, derived from מ + יצר. (“from pressures”)
The reason I highlighted the definition of ישר from the BHS above as I did: piel: make straight; make smooth is, as is typical with Hebrew words, is that our paths, by how we approach life, can be either straightened or they can be made smooth. Our hearts, our knowledge of God is the driving force. I encourage you to get to really know God’s Word in a new way. His true Word teaches us of him.
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