What Does Psalm 26:1 Mean in the King James?
A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
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
Integrity here is wholeness in motion: the steady walk belongs to someone whose trust is placed in the LORD.
THE MEANING
You stand before the LORD with your life open to judgment. Integrity is wholeness carried through the way you walk, and your security rests in trust in the LORD. Your footing is not left to the instability around you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that your stability comes from flawless self-control. The verse locates steadiness in an undivided walk joined to trust in the LORD.
THE ROOT
תֻּמִּי
tummî
GROWS FROM
תמם
tamam
To be complete or whole; to come to completion.
Integrity grows from the root of completeness: the verse describes a whole course of life, not merely a good reputation. Its next phrase places trust in the LORD alongside that wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
tam: Whole, complete, or blameless.
תָּם
This form shows that integrity carries the sense of a life gathered into wholeness.
tamim: Complete, whole, or without defect.
תָּמִים
The shared root links integrity with what is whole through and through.
בָּטַחְתִּי
batachti
GROWS FROM
בטח
batach
To feel secure, trust, or place confidence.
“trusted” in this verse is batachti. The root joins trust with security. That makes “I shall not slide” a statement about where safety rests: the speaker trusts in the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
betach: Security or safety; securely.
בֶּטַח
This branch makes the link between trusting and feeling secure explicit.
mivtach: A source of confidence or refuge.
מִבְטָח
It shows trust as a place of safety, not just an idea held in the mind.
הָלַכְתִּי
halakhti
GROWS FROM
הלך
halakh
To go, walk, or proceed.
“walked” in this verse is halakhti. The verb keeps integrity in motion: it is a way of proceeding along a path, not a static title. The Hebrew links the inner quality of a life with the direction its steps take.
ALSO GROWS
hithallekh: To walk about or conduct oneself.
הִתְהַלֵּךְ
This form shows how the root can describe a person’s ongoing way of moving through life.
halikhah: Walking or going.
הֲלִיכָה
This noun preserves the bodily movement that lets “walk” also describe a way of life.
THE PATTERN
Trust in the LORD steadies the walk of integrity even as the path moves.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)THE THREAD
The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.Both verses use מָעַד (ma’ad), meaning to totter or slip, for feet that do not give way. Psalm 26 names trust in the LORD beside integrity; Psalm 37 locates steadiness in God’s instruction held in the heart.
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