What Does Psalm 37:23 Mean in the King James?
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
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 same LORD who makes your steps firm takes delight in the way you are walking.
THE MEANING
The LORD makes your steps firm and takes pleasure in your way. The one who steadies your movement meets it with delight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that divine direction is only oversight or correction is undone here: the LORD both establishes your steps and delights in your way.
THE ROOT
כּוֹנָנוּ
kōnānū
GROWS FROM
כון
kun
To be firm or established; in causative forms, to make firm or prepare.
The word translated “ordered” carries the sense of being made firm. Your steps are not only pointed somewhere; they receive a steadiness that lets the way hold beneath you.
ALSO GROWS
hēḵîn: Prepare, establish, make ready.
הֵכִין
This related verb shows that making a path firm can also mean preparing it for the movement that follows.
māḵôn: A place or foundation that is established.
מָכוֹן
This branch carries the root’s firmness into a place that can hold what is set upon it.
יֶחְפָּץ
yeḥpāṣ
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥāfēṣ
To desire, take pleasure in, or delight.
“delighteth” in this verse is yeḥpāṣ. This root holds desire and pleasure together. The LORD’s relation to your way is not only to steady it; the LORD takes pleasure in it.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēphets: Desire, pleasure, delight.
חֵפֶץ
The noun shows delight as something desired or cherished, giving weight to the LORD’s pleasure in the way.
ḥāfēts: To desire or take pleasure in.
חָפֵץ
This verb is the same family as the verse’s “delighteth,” joining pleasure to an active desire.
גֶּבֶר
gever
GROWS FROM
גבר
gābar
To be strong or prevail.
The Hebrew word for “man” belongs to a family of strength and prevailing. Even the capable walker receives firm footing from the LORD; strength itself does not have to hold the path alone.
ALSO GROWS
gibbôr: A strong or mighty person; a warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This branch makes the strength resonance of gever visible in a person who acts with might.
gevūrāh: Might, strength, power.
גְּבוּרָה
This noun names the quality carried by the same root family, showing that the verse’s walker may be strong and still be upheld.
THE PATTERN
A human path takes shape as God makes its steps firm and prepares the way to be walked.
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.THE THREAD
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.“Delight” in both verses comes from חפץ (ḥāfēṣ), the root of desire and pleasure. Psalm 1 places the reader’s delight in the LORD’s instruction; here the LORD’s delight rests on the reader’s way.
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