What Does Psalm 25:15 Mean?
My eyes are always toward the LORD, for he brings my feet out of the net.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.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.
“brings out” in this verse is yotsiʾ. 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 to the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he bends toward us.Our living soul slips free like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we slip free.Fixing our sight on Jesus, the one who goes first and brings our trust to its goal, who for the joy lying before him remained under the cross, looking down on the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.THE THREAD
Then you shall say to your son, We were Pharaoh's servants in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong 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.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us