What Does Proverbs 2:13 Mean in the King James?
Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
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
Darkness here is a route made by the feet after uprightness is left behind.
THE MEANING
The verse names a movement happening now: what is straight is left, and the feet take a route through darkness. Darkness becomes the way forward, with each step shaping what the traveler can see.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that leaving what is upright is a neutral detour: the direction a person keeps walking becomes a way of darkness.
THE ROOT
דַּרְכֵי
darkhei
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread, step upon, or traverse.
“ways” in this verse is darkhei. The word for a way is linked to treading: a route becomes real through the steps taken along it. The verse’s darkness is not only an atmosphere around someone; it is a direction repeatedly enacted.
ALSO GROWS
darakh: To tread or step.
דָּרַךְ
This verb reveals the movement inside the word for a way: a path is traveled one step at a time.
derekh: A way, road, or path.
דֶּרֶךְ
The route in the verse is not abstract; it is the course the feet follow.
יֹשֶׁר
yosher
GROWS FROM
ישר
To be straight, level, or right.
Uprightness carries a spatial sense: what is straight and level. Leaving it means turning away from a clear line of travel, not merely losing an honorable label.
ALSO GROWS
yashar: Straight, level, or upright.
יָשָׁר
The same root describes both upright character and a straight direction.
mesharim: Levelness or equity.
מֵישָׁרִים
This branch connects uprightness with level footing and an even course.
הָעֹזְבִים
ha'ozvim
GROWS FROM
עזב
To leave, forsake, or abandon.
“leave” in this verse is ha'ozvim. The verse begins with an active departure, not a person simply being carried off course. The root names both the act of leaving and the condition of what is left behind.
ALSO GROWS
azav: To leave or forsake.
עָזַב
This is the action at the opening of the verse: the straight paths are actively left.
azuv: Forsaken or abandoned.
עָזוּב
This form shows the state created by departure: something is left behind.
THE PATTERN
When a person leaves the straight way, the route they continue along can darken their sense of direction.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.THE THREAD
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.The Hebrew repeats the roots הָלַךְ (halakh, walk or go) and חֹשֶׁךְ (choshekh, darkness), making the link word-level as well as thematic. Proverbs shows the turn into that route; the psalm reveals the confusion that unfolds while a person keeps walking it.
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