What Does Psalm 119:101 Mean in the King James?
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
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
Keeping the word begins with a boundary around the feet: the guarded word and the refused path belong to one act.
THE MEANING
Your feet are part of how you keep what matters: each path you refuse shapes what can remain guarded in you. The verse holds bodily direction and inward attention together in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that keeping the word is only inward, untouched by the paths your life takes.
THE ROOT
כָּלִאתִי
kālîʾtî
GROWS FROM
כלא
k-l-ʾ
To restrain, shut in, or hold back.
The word translated “refrained” comes from a root of restraint and confinement. The verse gives restraint a bodily image: the feet are held back from a route, creating a boundary around what is kept.
ALSO GROWS
keleʾ: Prison or confinement.
כֶּלֶא
This branch makes the root’s sense of holding within bounds concrete; the feet are held back from the harmful path.
kaluʾ: Confined or imprisoned.
כָּלוּא
The same root describes something held in, echoing the verse’s image of movement being restrained.
אֶשְׁמֹר
eshmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To watch over, guard, or keep.
The root behind “keep” is the language of guarding. English also renders this root “preserve” in Psalm 121:7, joining the keeping of the word here with the LORD’s guarding from evil there.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: A keeper or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch shows that keeping carries the sense of staying alert over what is entrusted.
mishmeret: A guard, watch, or charge.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The word for a watch or entrusted duty makes the verse’s keeping feel like active care, not mere possession.
THE PATTERN
A guarded life is shaped as much by the paths it refuses as by the word it keeps.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.THE THREAD
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.The verb translated “preserve” here comes from שׁמר (shamar, to guard or keep), the same root translated “keep” in Psalm 119:101. One verse places guarding around the path your feet take; the other places the LORD’s guarding around you from evil.
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