נָטָה

From the study of Proverbs 4:5

Range of meaning

To stretch out or extend (a hand, a tent); to bend or incline (the ear, the heart); to turn aside or veer off a road.

Against the English

'Turn from' (BSB) and 'turn away from' (ESV, NIV, NASB) are fine. KJV's 'decline' is archaic for 'bend aside' and now sounds like 'refuse'. WEB's 'deviate' captures the path image well.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 20:17 and 22:23: turning aside from the road. Prov 4:27, in this same chapter: 'Do not swerve (al-teṭ, the exact same form) to the right or the left.' Prov 4:20 uses the verb positively with the same noun for 'sayings': 'to my sayings (la'amarai) incline (haṭ) your ear.' Compare Prov 5:7: 'do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.'

From the study of Proverbs 18:5

Range of meaning

In its basic form: to stretch out, extend, bend, incline. In the causative form used here: to bend something aside or push someone away. With "justice" or "the poor" it becomes the standard phrase for perverting judgment (Exodus 23:2, 6; Deuteronomy 16:19; 24:17; 27:19; 1 Samuel 8:3; Amos 2:7; 5:12; Isaiah 10:2; Malachi 3:5; Proverbs 17:23).

Against the English

KJV has "overthrow", which is stronger than the Hebrew. YLT has "turn aside" and NASB "thrust aside", both close to the picture. BSB, WEB, ESV and NIV have "deprive of justice", which gives the result clearly but loses the image of being shoved off the path.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 16:19 reads "You shall not bend justice; you shall not recognize faces; you shall not take a bribe." It joins this verb with partiality just as Proverbs 18:5 does. Proverbs 17:23 says the wicked takes a bribe "to bend aside the paths of justice."

From the study of Isaiah 51:13

Range of meaning

Natah means to stretch out, extend, spread (a tent, a hand), or bend down. 'Stretching out the heavens' pictures the sky spread like a tent-curtain.

Against the English

Most versions say 'stretched out', which is past tense. The Hebrew participle ('the one stretching out') describes God by what he characteristically does, almost as a title. YLT's 'is stretching out' keeps this.

Used elsewhere in the period

A recurring phrase in Isaiah 40–55: 40:22 ('stretches out the heavens like a curtain, spreads them like a tent to dwell in'), 42:5, 44:24, 45:12, 51:16. Compare Psalm 104:2 and Job 9:8. In the Babylonian creation epic (Enuma Elish), Marduk forms the sky by splitting the body of the sea-monster Tiamat. Isaiah 51:9–10, just before this verse, uses similar imagery of Yahweh striking 'Rahab' and 'the dragon'.