What Does Matthew 3:3 Mean in the King James?
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The “paths” are tracks worn by passage, so the verse pictures the Lord’s way being readied by straightening routes already marked into the ground.
THE MEANING
A voice meets the reader in the wilderness and calls for the Lord’s way to be prepared. The Greek pictures both a road and tracks worn by passage, then calls those tracks straight. The Lord’s arrival is pictured as a route becoming clear and direct in a place that looks empty.
THE ROOT
τὰς τρίβους
tas tribous
GROWS FROM
τριβ- (trib-), from τρίβω (tribō)
To rub, wear down, or tread; a τρίβος is a track worn by passage.
The English “paths” can sound like lines simply laid out on the ground. The Greek word carries the trace of movement: passage wears a track into the terrain, and that track is made straight.
ALSO GROWS
tribō: Rub, wear down, or tread.
τρίβω
The verb names the repeated action that leaves a track behind.
tribē: Rubbing, friction, or wearing.
τριβή
This related form keeps the physical sense of contact and wear inside the word for a path.
τὴν ὁδόν
tēn hodon
GROWS FROM
ὁδ-
hod-
Road, route, or way.
The verse places the Lord’s ὁδός, the road or way, beside the worn tracks that are made straight. English keeps both images, but the Greek makes their relationship clear: a route is prepared through terrain already marked by movement.
ALSO GROWS
hodoiporia: A journey or journey by road.
ὁδοιπορία
The way is not only a surface; it is also the route of a journey.
hodoiporeō: Travel by road.
ὁδοιπορέω
This verb from the same word family carries the road into the act of traveling.
εὐθείας
eutheias
GROWS FROM
εὐθυ-
euthy-
Straight, direct, or aligned.
The command is not merely to make a path exist; it is to make its course direct. The same word family can describe both a straight route and the act of making something straight.
ALSO GROWS
euthynō: Make straight or direct.
εὐθύνω
This verb makes explicit the action carried by the command to straighten the tracks.
euthytēs: Straightness or directness.
εὐθύτης
This related noun names the quality the path takes on when its course is made straight.
THE PATTERN
The way of the Lord is made direct through terrain that can otherwise obstruct or mislead.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.THE THREAD
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.The Greek word translated “way” here is ὁδός (hodós), the same word Jesus uses when he says, “I am the way.” Matthew pictures a route prepared for the Lord; John uses that same word to name the one who is the way.
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