Highways

How Nave’s arranged it

• FIGURATIVEProverbs 16:17Isaiah 11:16Isaiah 35:8–10Isaiah 40:3Isaiah 40:4Matthew 3:3Matthew 7:13Matthew 7:14
• See Roads
• See Way

The passages, in Bible order (8)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 8 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Proverbs 16:17

   The highway of the upright leads away from evil; he who guards his way protects his life.

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Isaiah 11:16

   There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 11:162 voices

   “And there shall be an highway - All obstructions shall be removed, and they shall be permitted to return without hinderance (compare the note at Isa 35:8). For the remnant of his people from Assyria - See note at Isa 11:11. Like as it was to Israel... - That is, God will remove all obstructions as he did at the Red Sea; he will subdue all their enemies; he will provide for their needs; and he will interpose by the manifest marks of his presence and protection, as their God and their friend.

   “Let us not despair therefore when the interests of the church seem to be brought very low; God can soon turn gloomy days into glorious ones. It had a further reference to the days of the Messiah and the accession of the Gentiles to his kingdom; for to these the apostle applies

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 11:16→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Isaiah 35:8–10

   And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 35:8–102 voices

   “Mal 3:1). it shall be for those: the wayfaring men--rather, "He (the Holy One) shall be with them, walking in the way" [HORSLEY]. though fools--rather, "And (even) fools," that is, the simple shall not go astray, namely, because "He shall be with them" (Mt 11:25;

   “And a highway - The word ודרך vederech is by mistake added to the first member of the sentence from the beginning of the following member. Sixteen MSS. of Dr. Kennicott’s, seven ancient, and two of De Rossi’s have it but once; so likewise the Syriac, Septuagint, and Arabic. Err therein - A MS. of Dr. Kennicott’s adds בו bo, in it, which seems necessary to the sense, and so the Vulgate, per eam, “by it. “One of De Rossi’s has שם sham, there.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 35:8–10→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Isaiah 40:3

   A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 40:32 voices

   “Mal 4:5, 6 cannot have received its exhaustive fulfilment in John; the Jews always understood it of the literal Elijah. As there is another consummating advent of Messiah Himself, so perhaps there is to be of his forerunner Elias, who also was present at the transfiguration. the Lord--Hebrew, Jehovah; as this is applied to Jesus, He must be Jehovah (Mt 3:3).

   “The voice of him that crieth - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘A voice crieth,’ and annex the phrase ‘in the wilderness’ to the latter part of the sentence: A voice crieth, ‘In the wilderness prepare ye the way of Yahweh.’ The Hebrew (קורא קול qôl qôrē') will bear this construction, though the Vulgate and the Septuagint render it as in our common version. The sense is not essentially different, though the parallelism seems to require the translation proposed by Lowth. The design is to state the source of consolation referred to in the previous verses.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 40:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Isaiah 40:4

   Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 40:42 voices

   Crooked - The word עקב akob is very generally rendered crooked: but this sense of the word seems not to be supported by any good authority. Ludolphus, Comment. ad Hist. Aethiop. p. 206, says “that in the Ethiopia language it signifies clivus, locus editus:” and so the Syriac Version renders it in this place, ערמא arama: Hebrew, ערמה aramah, tumulus, acervus. Thus the parallelism would be more perfect:” the hilly country shall be made level, and the precipices a smooth plain.”

   “(2.) We must get our hearts levelled by divine grace. Those that are hindered from comfort in Christ by their dejections and despondencies are the valleys that must be exalted. Those that are hindered from comfort in Christ by a proud conceit of their own merit and worth are the mountains and hills that must be made low.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 40:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Matthew 3:3

   This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”

   ›Commentary on Matthew 3:32 voices

   These verses describe the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ: it is a ministry that deserves close attention. Few preachers ever produced such effects as John the Baptist: “There went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan.”None ever received such praise from the great head of the church: Jesus called him “a burning and a shining light” ( John 5:35 ); the great Bishop of souls Himself declared, that “among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

   “The voice of one crying in the wilderness--(See on Lu 3:2); the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--This prediction is quoted in all the four Gospels, showing that it was regarded as a great outstanding one, and the predicted forerunner as the connecting link between the old and the new economies.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 3:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Matthew 7:13

   Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

   ›Commentary on Matthew 7:132 voices

   “In this part of the Sermon on the Mount our Lord begins to draw his discourse to a conclusion. The lessons he here forces on our notice are broad, general and full of the deepest wisdom. Let us mark them in succession. He lays down a general principle for our guidance in all doubtful questions between man and man. “We are to do to others as we would have others do to us.”We are not to deal with others as others deal with us: this is mere selfishness and heathenism.

   Hence the still stronger expression in Luke (Lu 13:24), "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." for wide is the gate--easily entered. and broad is the way--easily trodden. that leadeth to destruction, and--thus lured "many there be which go in thereat."

   Everything gathered on Matthew 7:13→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Matthew 7:14

   But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

   ›Commentary on Matthew 7:142 voices

   “In this part of the Sermon on the Mount our Lord begins to draw his discourse to a conclusion. The lessons he here forces on our notice are broad, general and full of the deepest wisdom. Let us mark them in succession. He lays down a general principle for our guidance in all doubtful questions between man and man. “We are to do to others as we would have others do to us.”We are not to deal with others as others deal with us: this is mere selfishness and heathenism.

   “As to the other way, the disadvantage of it lies in its narrowness and solicitude. Its very first step involves a revolution in all our purposes and plans for life, and a surrender of all that is dear to natural inclination, while all that follows is but a repetition of the first great act of self-sacrifice. No wonder, then, that few find and few are found in it.

   Everything gathered on Matthew 7:14→

   Verse page →Original language →