Translation from one language to another will necessarily often be imprecise. This is certainly true in the translation of Greek into English (or any other language), or ancient Hebrew into English (or any other language).
There is often not a precisely equivalent word in English for the original ancient Hebrew word. The common practice among most translators is to choose the English word that is closest to the original Hebrew word. But this often requires some subjective judgment on the part of the translator. For example, if one was assigned the job of describing a sunset to a blind person, how would you do it? To a seeing person, you would just use the word “sunset” because the seeing person has experientially viewed many sunsets. But a blind person would not have those experiences, so what experience(s) for a blind person would you choose to describe the sunset? What closest word (or phrase) in the blind person’s experience would you choose to convey the best meaning of a sunset. Here are some possibilities: “declining intensity” or “decreasing temperature because the heater in the sky is being gradually obscured” or “often times extreme and varied visual contrast” or “visual reminder of majesty and peace and control” or …
Each of these phrases convey some of the emotional content in the word “sunset” to a seeing person, but none of them tells the whole story of that single word to a blind person. The more words one is allowed to use, the more completely one can convey the full meaning behind that single seeing-person’s word.
Unfortunately, the more words that are used to describe “sunset” to a blind listener, the more the contextual flow of the sentence is lost. For example, if one were translating this sentence: “The look he gave her reminded her of the feeling she often gets looking at a sky scattered with a few fluffy clouds at sunset. Her heart was lit up with the splendor of his smile.” The question the translator must ask is, “Just how many words can I use to describe the sunset without losing the original intent of the author relative to the overall semantic meaning of those two sentences?” If you think much about this quandary, you will see that the more words that are used to convey the emotional content of the single word “sunset,” the more one obscures the poetic romance of those original two sentences. Such an approach may increase the scholarly communication of the original author’s intent for those who want to spend a lot of time studying and contemplating that original intent, but it does tend to lose track of the overall context of the narrative. Such is the quandary of the translator who attempts to convey the complete meaning of the Hebrew to an English-speaking person.
If you have ever tried to read a long passage of Scripture using the Amplified Bible, you will have experienced, at least in part, what I am attempting to convey here.
So, given all the foregoing explanation, here is my translation of the six Hebrew words that comprise Psalm 119:1, into the English:
Blessed (unimpeded and therefore prospered by God) (God provides for success by making sure the road is cleared of obstacles so you have a “straight way”) is the complete (whole, sometimes could mean “undefiled” or “pure”) way (life) (manner of living) (road or path of one’s life)—they who walk (live their lives) in the instruction (in accordance with God’s commandments as recorded in the Scriptures) of YHWH (God—the one who created the heavens and the earth and who spoke to Moses from the burning bush).
Compare the above to the NIV which says, “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD.” Or to the King James which says, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.” Or the CSB which says, “How happy are those whose way is blameless, who live according to the law of the Lord!” Or the ASV which says, “Blessed are they that are perfect in the way, Who walk in the law of Jehovah.” Or the Living Bible which says, “Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD.”
So, in conclusion, translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into English is ALWAYS going to result in an incomplete meaning, and one is reliant on the intent, translation philosophy, and process chosen by a well-meaning human translator, and the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit.