What Does Psalm 119:3 Mean in the King James?
They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
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 joins doing no crookedness with walking God’s paths: conduct is the path made visible.
THE MEANING
Your way with God takes shape in what you do and the direction you keep walking. Here, refusing crookedness and walking in God’s ways belong together; neither is detached from the other.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that walking in God’s ways can be separate from how you act.
THE ROOT
עַוְלָה
ʿavlah
GROWS FROM
עול
ʿ-w-l
Crookedness; unjust dealing.
The word translated “iniquity” names crooked or unjust conduct, not just an abstract stain. Its root also forms עָוַל (ʿāwal, to act unjustly), tying the verse’s claim directly to what is done.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāwel: Injustice, wrong.
עָוֶל
This related noun keeps the focus on crooked conduct that the verse says is absent.
ʿāwal: To act unjustly.
עָוַל
The verb shows the same root in action, connecting the absence of iniquity to how one behaves.
הָלָכוּ
hālakū
GROWS FROM
הלך
h-l-k
To walk, go.
The Hebrew verb הָלָכוּ (hālakū, they walk/go) makes their way a movement, not a label. The verse describes a course expressed through continuing steps.
ALSO GROWS
hālak: To walk, go.
הָלַךְ
This is the verb’s basic form, keeping the verse’s image grounded in movement.
halikhah: Walking, going.
הֲלִיכָה
This related noun shows the root can name the course of movement itself.
דְּרָכָיו
derākhāv
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread; to make or follow a way.
The Hebrew for “ways” is connected to דָּרַךְ (dārakh, to tread): a way is a course marked by steps. “They walk in his ways” pictures God’s path becoming present through their movement.
ALSO GROWS
dārakh: To tread, step.
דָּרַךְ
The verb gives the path an embodied sense: it is a course one actually steps along.
dérekh: Way, road, course.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the noun in the verse, rooted in the image of a trodden way.
THE PATTERN
A Godward walk is revealed by the conduct that travels with it.
Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.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.He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.THE THREAD
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Micah places doing justly beside walking humbly with God, revealing the same bond between conduct and direction found in Psalm 119:3. Both use הָלַךְ (halak, walk/go), naming the path as movement rather than a static claim.
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