“I walk in the way of righteousness”: “Walk” is figurative and refers to the manner of life, what someone does, a person’s conduct or behavior. “The way of righteousness” is what justice and right living require. We may express the meaning of the figure by saying, for example, “I live in a way that is right” or “I do the things that are right.” Keeping the figurative language we may say, for example, “I stay on the road that rightness shows me,” or, as Bible en français courant says, “I am found on the road that leads to justice.”

“In the paths of justice”: This line repeats “the way of righteousness” by substituting “paths” and the usual Hebrew word for justice, equity, or fairness. Contemporary English Version renders the two lines “I always do what is right.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .