What Does Psalm 73:2 Mean in the King James?
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
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 near-fall is pictured as a spill: the steps are poured out of their line before the fall is complete.
THE MEANING
My footing can come close to giving way, and this verse names that instability plainly. My steps are nearly spilling out of their line; the danger is real, yet the verse holds it at the edge of a fall.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A wavering step means the whole path is already lost; the verse distinguishes nearly slipping from being gone.
THE ROOT
שֻׁפְּכוּ
shuppəkhu
GROWS FROM
שׁפך
sh-p-kh
To pour out, spill, or shed.
The word rendered “slipped” carries the image of being poured out. The steps are not simply misplaced; they are pictured as spilling from their course, giving the near-fall a striking sense of lost shape.
ALSO GROWS
shaphakh: To pour out.
שָׁפַךְ
This is the root verb behind “slipped,” keeping the verse’s image of a spill visible.
ve’eshpekhah nafshi: “And I pour out my living soul.”
וְאֶשְׁפְּכָה נַפְשִׁי
Psalm 42:4 uses the same root for an inward outpouring, linking the image of spilled steps with inner overflow.
shefikhath dam: The pouring out of blood; bloodshed.
שְׁפִיכַת דָּם
The same root can name a grave spilling, showing how concrete the image of being poured out can be.
נָטָיוּ
natayu
GROWS FROM
נטה
n-t-h
To stretch out, incline, or turn aside.
The Hebrew behind “were almost gone” pictures the feet as already inclining. Alongside the steps poured out of their line, the verse shows instability as both a tilt in direction and a spill in the path.
ALSO GROWS
natah: To stretch out or incline.
נָטָה
This basic form makes the body’s near-tilt explicit in the verse.
natah ohel: To spread or pitch a tent.
נָטָה אֹהֶל
The root’s sense of extending or spreading gives another view of its movement; here the feet incline away from their steady line.
THE PATTERN
Scripture can name a life at the edge of falling without mistaking that edge for its end.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;THE THREAD
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.Psalm 73 uses שֻׁפְּכוּ (shuppəkhu, “were poured out”) for the steps; Psalm 42 uses the same root in וְאֶשְׁפְּכָה (ve’eshpekhah, “and I pour out”) for the living soul. The shared verb links a path spilling from its course with an inward outpouring.
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