What Does 2 Samuel 22:33 Mean in the King James?
God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
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 path’s wholeness comes from a strength that is also a place to stand.
THE MEANING
God is the strength and secure place beneath your steps, and your way is being made whole. The verse joins the capacity for the walk with the integrity of its course: both have one source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your path must already be flawless for God to be your strength; the verse places its wholeness in God’s action.
THE ROOT
תָּמִים
tamim
GROWS FROM
תמם
tamam
To be complete, whole, or sound.
The way is called tamim: whole, sound, complete. This opens “perfect” beyond flawlessness, the path is brought to integrity across its course.
ALSO GROWS
tam: Whole, sound, or blameless.
תָּם
This branch carries the sense of integrity that makes the way complete.
tummāh: Integrity or completeness.
תֻּמָּה
It shows wholeness as a condition that holds together, not a polished appearance.
מָעוּזִּי
ma'uzzi
GROWS FROM
עזז
ʿ-z-z
To be strong or mighty.
The Hebrew word behind “strength” also carries the image of a stronghold. Strength here is pictured as a secure place to stand as the way unfolds.
ALSO GROWS
ʿoz: Strength or might.
עֹז
This branch names the force that supports the walk.
ma'oz: Stronghold or refuge.
מָעוֹז
This is the image carried by the word rendered “my strength”: capacity and security meet in one word.
ʿazuz: Mighty or powerful.
עָזוּז
It extends the root’s sense of strength into active power.
דַּרְכִּי
darki
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread or step.
The Hebrew word for “way” grows from the verb darakh, “to tread.” The way is both a course and the movement made by walking it, so the verse speaks of the path beneath your actual steps becoming whole.
ALSO GROWS
darakh: To tread, step, or march.
דָּרַךְ
It reveals that a way is lived through movement, not held only as an abstract direction.
derek: Road, path, course, or manner of life.
דֶּרֶךְ
The same root names both a physical route and the course a life takes.
THE PATTERN
When God strengthens the walker, the path itself is made whole.
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.THE THREAD
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.The next line gives this wholeness a bodily measure: widened steps beneath you and feet that do not slip. Its verb grows from רָחַב (raḥav), “to make wide,” so a complete way appears as room and stable footing beneath the walker.
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