What Does Proverbs 3:23 Mean in the King James?
Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
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 Hebrew word for “way” grows from “tread”: wisdom steadies the very steps by which your path is made.
THE MEANING
You move through your way with security; your foot need not strike against an obstacle and fall. Wisdom reaches into your movement now, making the next step traversable.
THE ROOT
דַּרְכֶּךָ
darkekha
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread or step; by extension, to travel a route.
The word for “way” is kin to the verb “tread”: a path is what feet travel, step by step. The verse pictures security within that movement, not merely as an idea about where to go.
ALSO GROWS
derek: Way, road, or course.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the noun in the verse: the course your feet travel.
darak: To tread or step.
דָּרַךְ
The verb shares the same root, joining the path to the act of walking it.
תִּגּוֹף
tigof
GROWS FROM
נגף
n-g-p
To strike, smite, or collide.
The word rendered “stumble” comes from a root that also means “strike” or “smite.” The image is of a foot meeting an obstruction, giving the verse’s promise of steady movement a concrete edge.
ALSO GROWS
nagaph: To strike or smite.
נָגַף
This verb makes the force of the stumble word visible: the foot does not strike against something.
maggephah: A plague or defeat.
מַגֵּפָה
This noun carries the same root’s sense of a damaging blow.
לָבֶטַח
la-vetaḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
To trust, feel secure, or rely upon.
“safely” in this verse is la-vetaḥ. The word for safety shares its root with trust and secure reliance. The verse joins a secure way with the experience of walking it.
ALSO GROWS
batach: To trust or feel secure.
בָּטַח
The verb reveals the trust-like quality carried by the word for walking safely.
mivtaḥ: A refuge or secure place.
מִבְטָח
This related noun gives security the shape of a place one can rely on.
THE PATTERN
When a way is ordered by wisdom or illuminated by light, the feet can keep moving without stumbling.
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.THE THREAD
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Isaiah’s “way” is דֶּרֶךְ (derek, way), from דָּרַךְ (darak, tread), the same root behind “your way” here. Proverbs pictures feet moving securely along a path; Isaiah’s call to make the path straight opens that image into a way prepared for the LORD.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us