What Does Psalm 18:36 Mean in the King James?
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
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 widened way beneath you is what makes movement steady.
THE MEANING
The space beneath your stride widens. Your step has room to land, and your ankles hold steady. The verse locates stability in the breadth opening under your movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that secure movement requires shrinking your stride: steadiness comes as the way beneath you widens.
THE ROOT
תַּרְחִיב
tarḥiv
GROWS FROM
ר־ח־ב
r-ḥ-b
To become wide or to widen; to make spacious.
“enlarged” in this verse is tarḥiv. The widening is concrete: the space available to the stride expands beneath the speaker. Steadiness appears as constriction gives way to room for movement.
ALSO GROWS
merḥav: A broad place, open space.
מֶרְחָב
Psalm 18:19 uses this branch for the large place the speaker is brought into; here, that spaciousness supports each step.
reḥov: An open square or street.
רְחֹב
This branch names shared, open space, echoing the verse’s image of movement gaining room beneath it.
צַעֲדִי
tsaʿadi
GROWS FROM
צ־ע־ד
ṣ-ʿ-d
To step, stride, or march.
English gives the word as “steps,” while Hebrew has “my step” in the singular. The widening meets the movement as it lands, and the following image of steady ankles shows the result.
ALSO GROWS
ṣāʿad: To step, stride, or march.
צָעַד
The root describes forward movement itself, which the verse presents as gaining room.
miṣʿād: A step or footstep.
מִצְעָד
This noun makes the connection between a stride and the particular place where it lands.
THE PATTERN
Movement becomes steady as constriction gives way to room.
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.THE THREAD
He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.“Large place” and “enlarged” share the root ר־ח־ב (r-ḥ-b, widen or make spacious). Verse 19 names the open space; this verse shows that spaciousness beneath each step.
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