What Does Psalm 25:15 Mean in the King James?
Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
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 says the LORD brings your feet out of the net, while your gaze is already turned toward him.
THE MEANING
Your gaze can remain turned toward the LORD even while your feet are caught in something that feels like a snare. The verse names an exit as something the LORD brings about: the entanglement is real, but it is not the final motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being caught means being abandoned: your feet can be trapped while your gaze remains toward the LORD, who brings you out.
THE ROOT
יוֹצִיא
yotsiʾ
GROWS FROM
י־צ־א
y-ṣ-ʾ
Go out, come forth; in this verb form, bring out.
The verb translated “pluck ... out” is a form of יצא, “go out” or “come forth.” The verse pictures release as being brought out of the snare: the feet are caught, but their movement does not end there.
ALSO GROWS
yatsaʾ: Go out; come forth.
יָצָא
This is the root’s basic movement, the same movement the LORD sets in motion for the trapped feet.
motsaʾ: An exit, outlet, or going forth.
מוֹצָא
This noun from the same root gives language for the way out that the verse places in the LORD’s hands.
עֵינַי
ʿênay
GROWS FROM
ע־י־ן
ʿ-y-n
Eye; the same Hebrew word also names a spring or fountain.
“eyes” in this verse is ʿênay. Hebrew uses עַיִן for both an eye and a spring, and מַעְיָן is a spring from this word family. The gaze turned toward the LORD can therefore carry a resonance of source as well as sight, even while the feet remain caught.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: Eye; also spring or fountain.
עַיִן
One Hebrew word holds together ordinary sight and the image of a spring, adding depth to the verse’s language of eyes turned toward the LORD.
maʿyan: Spring or fountain.
מַעְיָן
This related word makes the source resonance visible: the word family of “eyes” also names a flowing source.
THE PATTERN
The gaze can remain turned toward the LORD while the feet are caught, as release is pictured as being brought out.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.THE THREAD
Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:The Hebrew verb behind “pluck ... out” comes from יצא, the same root used here for the LORD bringing people out. The shared word opens Psalm 25:15 onto the recurring movement from confinement toward freedom: the feet are in the trap, and the LORD is the one bringing them out.
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