What Does Proverbs 3:26 Mean in the King James?
For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
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 verse makes confidence concrete: the LORD’s security extends all the way to the foot that could be caught.
THE MEANING
Your confidence rests in the LORD, whose guarding reaches the steps you take. The verse speaks of your foot being kept from capture, so security touches where you move, not only what you feel.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that safety comes only from spotting and avoiding every trap yourself. Here, confidence rests in the LORD’s keeping.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַר
shamar
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To watch over, guard, and preserve.
English “keep” can sound static, but שָׁמַר (shamar, to guard) describes watching over and protecting. Here, that watchfulness reaches your foot and keeps its movement from being caught.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Watcher, keeper
שׁוֹמֵר
The keeper is one who watches over, making the LORD’s protection an active presence.
mishmeret: Watch, guard, charge
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch names the watch or safeguard entrusted to someone, echoing the verse’s promise that your foot is under guard.
בְּכִסְלֶךָ
bekislekha
GROWS FROM
כסל
k-s-l
The noun denotes confidence or security; the same form also names the loins or flanks in other contexts.
כֶּסֶל (kesel, confidence or security) also appears for the loins or flanks elsewhere. That overlap gives the verse’s confidence a sense of deep support, while the next clause carries that support into the foot’s movement.
ALSO GROWS
kislam: Their confidence, their hope
כִּסְלָם
Psalm 78:7 uses the same noun for hope set in God, showing confidence as reliance placed in God.
kesalim: Loins, flanks
כְּסָלִים
This bodily use gives the word for confidence an image of support beneath the person.
THE PATTERN
Confidence in the LORD is expressed as a guarding presence that reaches a person’s steps.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.THE THREAD
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.Psalm 121:3 uses שָׁמַר (shamar, to guard) for “keepeth,” and names the foot again. It opens this promise further: the LORD’s watchfulness reaches the ordinary step and does not sleep.
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