My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.
Parallel Translations
-
My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.
-
Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
-
My steps have held fast to Thy paths, my feet have not slipped.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Psalms 17:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 44:18 Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path,
- Psalms 119:133 Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.
- 1 Samuel 2:9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength.
- Psalms 18:36 You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
- Psalms 38:16 For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”
- Psalms 121:3 He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
- Psalms 121:7 Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.
- Job 23:11 My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away.
- Psalms 94:18 When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.
- Psalms 119:116-117 Uphold me according to your word, that I may live. Let me not be ashamed of my hope. Hold me up, and I will be safe, and will have respect for your statutes continually.
- Jeremiah 10:23 Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 5. Uphold my steps. If we take God’s paths…
5. Uphold my steps. If we take God’s paths for the precepts of his law, the sense will be evident, namely, that although David had spoken according to truth, in boasting of having, in the midst of the most grievous temptations which assailed him, constantly practiced righteousness with a pure heart, yet, conscious of his own weakness, he commits himself to God to be governed by him, and prays for grace to enable him to persevere. His language is as if he had said, Since hitherto, under thy guidance, I have proceeded onward in the right path, I beseech thee, in like manner, to keep my steps from sliding with respect to the time to come. And certainly the more any one excels in grace, “Et de faict, selon qu’un chacun a receu plus de graces.” — Fr. “And certainly the more grace any one has received.”
“De la vertu et force que Dieu nous aura donnee.” — Fr.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 17:5 Hold up my goings in thy paths,…
Psa 17:5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, [that] my footsteps slip not.
Ver. 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths, &c.] Keep me within the circle of thy word, as thou hitherto hast done; make me to walk exactly, and as in a frame, Eph 5:15. Grant me thy preventing, concomitant, and subsequent grace: O thou God of all grace, perfect, strengthen, stablish me, 1Pe 5:10.
Read full note →
That my footsteps slip not] By the malice of Satan, who seeks to subvert such as are most eminent, to the scandal of the weak, and scorn of the wicked; by the corruption also of mine own heart, Qua quisque sibi Satan est, as one well saith, whereby every man is a Satan to himself: could we but divorce the flesh from the devil, there would be no such danger. And, lastly, by the allurements or affrightments of this present evil world; the way whereof is like the vale of Siddim, slimy and slippery, full of slime pits and pit falls, springs and stumblingblocks.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As by thy word and grace thou hast hitherto…
As by thy word and grace thou hast hitherto kept me from the paths of evil men, and led me into thy paths; so, I pray thee, enable me by the same means to persevere in thy ways, and in mine abhorrency of wicked courses, that I may not fall into that sin of revenging myself upon Saul, to which I may be more and more tempted; nor into any other sin, whereby thou mayst be provoked, or men may be offended, and religion disgraced.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Hold up my goings in thy paths,.... Which being…
Hold up my goings in thy paths,.... Which being spoken by David in his own person, and for himself, shows that he was conscious of his own weakness to keep himself in the ways of God, and to direct his steps therein; and that he was sensible of, the need he stood in of divine power to uphold and support him in them;
that my footsteps slip not; out of the paths of truth and duty, of faith and holiness; of which there is danger, should a man be left to himself, and destitute of divine direction and aid; see Psa 73:2; and though Christ had no moral weakness in him, and was in no danger of falling into sin, or slipping out of the ways of God; yet these words may be applied to him in a good sense, as considered in human nature, and attended with the sinless infirmities of it, he being God's servant, whom he upheld, and of whom he gave his angels charge to keep him in all his ways, Isa 42:1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths]…
Verse 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths] David walked in God's ways; but, without Divine assistance, he could not walk steadily, even in them. The words of God's lips had shown him the steps he was to take, and he implores the strength of God's grace to enable him to walk in those steps. He had been kept from the paths of the destroyer; but this was not sufficient; he must walk in God's paths-must spend his life in obedience to the Divine will. Negative holiness can save no man. "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 17:5. Hold up my goings, &c. — As…
Psa 17:5. Hold up my goings, &c. — As by thy word and grace thou hast hitherto kept me from the paths of evil men, and led me into thy paths, so I pray thee enable me, by the same means, to persevere therein, and in an abhorrence of all wicked courses. Let me not only be restrained from doing that which is evil, but quickened to abound always in that which is good. Let my goings be so held in thy paths that I may not turn back from them, nor turn aside out of them; and let them be held up, that I may not stumble and fall into sin, that I may not become indolent, and neglect my duty. Observe, reader, we stand no longer than he is pleased to uphold us, we go no farther than he is pleased to lead us. Those, therefore, that would proceed on and persevere in the ways of God, must by faith and prayer fetch in daily supplies of grace and strength from him. That my footsteps slip not — That I may not fall into the sin of revenging myself on Saul, to which I may be more and more tempted, nor into any other sin, whereby thou mayest be provoked, or men may be offended, and religion disgraced. David was sensible that his way was slippery, that he himself was weak, and not so well fixed and established as he ought to be, and that there were those that watched for his halting, and would improve the least slip he might make against him, and therefore he prays in this manner to be upheld and preserved. Let us go and do likewise.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hold up my goings in thy paths - He…
Hold up my goings in thy paths - He had been enabled before this to keep himself from the ways of the violent by the word of God Psa 17:4; he felt his dependence on God still to enable him, in the circumstances in which he was placed, and under the provocations to which he was exposed, to live a life of peace, and to keep himself from doing wrong. He, therefore, calls on God, and asks him to sustain him, and to keep him still in the right path. The verb used here is in the infinitive form, but used instead of the imperative. DeWette. - Prof. Alexander renders this less correctly, “My steps have laid hold of thy paths;” for he supposes that a prayer here “would be out of place.” But prayer can never be more appropriate than when a man realises that he owes the fact of his having been hitherto enabled to lead an upright life only to the “word” of God, and when provoked and injured by others he feels that he might be in danger of doing wrong. In such circumstances nothing can he more proper than to call upon God to keep us from sin.
That my footsteps slip not - Margin, as in Hebrew: “be not moved.” The idea is, “that I may be firm; that I may not yield to passion; that, provoked and wronged by others, I may not be allowed to depart from the course of life which I have been hitherto enabled to pursue.” No prayer could be more appropriate. When we feel and know that we have been wronged by others; when our lives have given no cause for such treatment as we receive at their hands; when they are still pursuing us, and injuring us in our reputation, our property, or our peace; when all the bad passions of our nature are liable to be aroused, prompting us to seek revenge, and to return evil for evil, then nothing can be more proper than for us to lift our hearts to God, entreating that he will keep us, and save us from falling into sin; that he will enable us to restrain our passions, and to subdue our resentments.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain May be read as an assertion "my steps or…
May be read as an assertion "my steps or goings have held on to Thy paths."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Hold up my goings—Rather, My steps hold fast…
5. Hold up my goings—Rather, My steps hold fast to thy paths. It is a protestation by the psalmist of his fidelity, as in Psa_17:3, and Job_23:11; and this agrees better with the Hiphil preterit of the next verb, My steps have not been moved.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. My steps have held fast to thy tracks,
5. My steps have held fast to thy tracks,
My feet have not slipped.
Read full note →
The A.V. is grammatically untenable. He describes his conduct positively. Paths, a different word from that in Psa_17:4, denotes the beaten tracks made by wheeled vehicles. Slipped (the same word as moved in Psa_15:5, Psa_16:8), of moral ‘slips’ and ‘falls.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Hold up.—Not, as in the Authorised Version, imperative,…
(5) Hold up.—Not, as in the Authorised Version, imperative, which is directly opposed to the context. The psalmist still asserts his innocence. Render:—
My course kept close in thy tracks,
Read full note →
My footsteps have not wavered.
(Comp. Job_23:11; Psa_41:12.)
Paths.—Literally, wheel-tracks.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that…
Hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. So De Wette and Rosenmuller; but most recent critics prefer to consider the words as an assertion rather than a prayer, and translate, "My steps have held fast to thy paths: therefore my feet have not been moved" (Kay, Hengstenberg, Alexander, Cheyne, "Speaker"s Commentary," Revised Version).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 5. Under trial it is not easy to…
Ver. 5. Under trial it is not easy to behave ourselves aright; a candle is not easily kept alight when many envious mouths are puffing at it. In evil times prayer is peculiarly needful, and wise men resort to it at once. Plato said to one of his disciples, "When men speak ill of thee, live so that no one will believe them; "good enough advice, but he did not tell us how to carry it out. We have a precept here incorporated in an example; if we would be preserved, we must cry to the Preserver, and enlist divine support upon our side.
Hold up my goings as a careful driver holds up his horse when going down hill. We have all sorts of paces, both fast and slow, and the road is never long of one sort, but with God to hold up our goings, nothing in the pace or in the road can cast down. He who has been down once and cut his knees sadly, even to the bone, had need redouble his zeal when using this prayer; and all of us, since we are so weak on our legs through Adam's fall, had need use it every hour of the day. If a perfect father fell, how shall an imperfect son dare to boast?
Read full note →
In thy paths. Forsaking Satan's paths, he prayed to be upheld in God's paths. We cannot keep from evil without keeping to good. If the bushel be not full of wheat, it may soon be once more full of chaff. In all the appointed ordinances and duties of our most holy faith, may the Lord enable us to run through his upholding grace!
That my footsteps slip not. What! slip in God's ways? Yes, the road is good, but our feet are evil, and therefore slip, even on the King's highway. Who wonders if carnal men slide and fall in ways of their own choosing, which like the vale of Siddim, are full of deadly slime pits? One may trip over an ordinance as well as over a temptation. Jesus Christ himself is a stumbling block to some, and the doctrines of grace have been the occasion of offence to many. Grace alone can hold up our goings in the paths of truth.
Ver. 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Lord, whatsoever the wrath of Saul be against me, yet let neither that, nor any other thing put me out of thy way, but keep my heart close unto thee, and keep my paths in thy way; let not my footsteps so much as slide from thee, for, Lord, they watch for my halting; if they can find but the least slip from me, they take advantage of it to the utmost; and I am a poor and a weak creature, therefore Lord help me, that my footsteps may not slide. Jeremiah Burroughs.
Ver. 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. As a stone cast into the air cannot go any higher, neither yet there abide when the power of the hurler ceaseth to drive it; even so, seeing our corrupt nature can go downward only, and the devil, the world, and the flesh, driveth to the same way; how can we proceed further in virtue, or stand therein, when we are tempted, if our merciful and good God do not by his Holy Spirit, from time to time, guide and govern us? Robert Cawdray.
Ver. 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Lord, hold me up, that I may hold out. Thou hast set the crown at the end of the race; let me run the race, that I may wear the crown. It was Beza's prayer, and let it be ours, "Lord, perfect what thou hast begun in me, that I may not suffer shipwreck when I am almost at the haven." Thomas Watson.
Ver. 5. In fierce assaults and strong temptations, when Satan layeth siege to the soul, shooting his fiery darts, and using stratagems of policy, joining his endeavours with our corruptions, as wind with tide, then we have cause to pray as David, Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. The apostle also found he had need of help from heaven when he was assaulted, and therefore he prayed "thrice, "that the thing that he feared might depart from him. 2Co 12:8. Christ hath taught us to pray daily, "Lead us not into temptation, "for it is dangerous; and then temptations are most dangerous, when, 1. Most suitable when Satan joins with our disposition or constitution; 2. Continual; 3. When opportunity and power is greatest. Joseph Symonds.
Ver. 5. Hold up.
1. Who? God.
2. What? My goings.
3. When? Present tense.
4. Where? In thy paths.
5. Why? That my footsteps slip not.
Ver. 5. Let me observe David and learn to pray as he prayed, Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
1. See his course. He speaks of his "goings." Religion does not allow a man to sit still. He speaks of his goings "in God's paths." These are threefold.
(1) The path of his commands. (2) The path of his ordinances. (3) The path of his dispensations.
2. His concern respecting this course. It is the language of;
(1) Conviction; (2) of apprehension; (3) of weakness; (4) of confidence.
William Jay.
Psalms 17:6*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my…
Psa_17:5
Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
Read full note →
Slippery places
The blessing of sanctified affliction is that we are made to see our weakness. David here seems as a little child, ready to fall, stretching out its hand and crying to its Father, Hold up my goings, etc.
I. The believers position is often a very slippery one. Christ told us, in the world ye shall have tribulation, and this is part of it. We are sent into the world to glorify Gods holy law. And this we do by a life of simple faith in Jesus.
II. It is so even in the paths of God. Even in His very paths. Liberty may degenerate into licence; holy caution into legalism; activity into neglect of communion with God, and that into neglect of service. Reliance in Christ to forgetfulness of the Spirit of Christ; and even joy in affliction to an overlooking of our sin, which is the cause of it.
III. The petition. Hold up my goings, etc.
1. It is the very picture of helplessness. I can do nothing, cannot stir a step, without Thee. Oh! to be brought here. The omnipotence of weakness.
2. It is the language of faith. In Psa_17:6 he says, I know that Thou wilt hear me. How simple but how strong this faith.
3. There is also the testimony of an upright conscience.
4. The memory of Gods past dealings with him. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
The Christian praying to be upheld
We cannot ascertain at what period of his life David wrote this prayer. It was probably before his lamentable fall If so, we are ready to say he must have forgotten it after he had written it, for otherwise his fall could not have happened. But let us make this prayer our own.
I. True religion is a walking or going on is Gods paths. Think of a country with many tracks in it perhaps, but without any marked roads or paths; a country like one immense down or waste, where in the main men go hither and thither just as they will. Now this is how most men regard the world and their own condition in it. But God appears and marks out certain ways or paths in this world, and bids us inquire for them and keep to them. And this is true religion--obedience to this Divine call. It is a ceasing to live at random, to live as God dictates.
II. The prayer we have to consider. It Implies--
1. A lively apprehension of the evil consequences of falling. An ordinary man does not care, he knows nothing of the malignity of sin. If for a moment sin has disturbed him by reason of some unusual transgression, the effect has been very shallow, very transient. Not so is it with the traveller in Gods ways. He knows how evil and bitter a thing sin is.
2. A consciousness of his proneness to fall. Liability is not a word strong enough. All, even the holiest creatures, are liable to fall--witness Adam and the once holy angels--and even in the holiest places. But in us there is a direct tendency to fall.
3. A belief in the ability and willingness of God to thus hold us up. Thou wilt hear me, O God, so he says in the next verse. There is such a thing as dwelling, if not too frequently, yet too exclusively on our weakness and danger. This is better than ignorance of them, and much better than knowing them, to be careless about them; but it comes far short of the perfection or completeness of true religion. That sees not alone the evil in us, but also the fulness of help for us which there is in God. Let us think much of the helping hand of God.
III. The manner in which we may expect such a prayer as this to be answered.
1. By mercifully removing occasions of falling out of our way.
2. By calling the sustaining graces of His servants into exercise. This a more honourable way for us.
3. By sending such afflictions as are calculated to keep them from falling.
4. By keeping alive a spirit of prayer within us for His upholding. As long as God keeps you prayerful, humbly and earnestly prayerful, be the ground what it may that you go over, you are safe. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The religious course of life sustained
Religion is intercourse maintained between God and us. What condescension on the part of God. They lose much who are strangers to Him. Let us observe David, and learn to pray as he prayed.
I. See his course. My goings. Religion does not allow a man to sit still. All religion is vain unless he is, so to speak, set a-going--unless he says, I will walk in Thy truth. His goings are in Gods paths.
1. Those of His commands.
2. Of His ordinances.
3. Of His dispensations.
II. His concern respecting this course. Hold up my goings, etc. It is the language--
1. Of conviction. He know the injury that would result from a fall or even a slip in religion.
2. Of apprehension, for he knew his footsteps were prone to slide.
3. And of weakness; he knew he could not keep himself.
4. Of confidence, for he was sure that God could and would hold him up. (W. Jay.)
How to walk without slipping
In considering the feelings that breathe in this prayer we note that they express--
I. A vehement desire to walk in Gods ways. There is a sense in which all men desire to walk in Gods ways. For they know the consequences of disobedience, how it provokes His anger and involves punishment. They dislike obedience, but they desire its rewards. Like a hireling, they labour at their task, but only for its promised hire. Could they only be assured that they could get the wages without the work they would gladly leave it alone. But those who have been pardoned through the blood of Jesus, though they have no fear of punishment, yet desire to walk in all the commandments of the Lord, doing what is well-pleasing in His sight.
II. A distressing sense of weakness is discovered and bemoaned in himself. It is when he would do good, i.e. when he desires, and in proportion as he desires, to do good that he is conscious of the evil present with him. If he does not much desire to walk in Gods ways he will not be much distressed at his failures. But if his desire be vehement it is far otherwise with him.
III. The cry. Of one who believes that the Lord is able and willing to hold him up. It is the cry of faith, not alone of desire. And the lesson of the whole is, that would we be upheld, our cry must be of vehement desire, of deep sense of need, and of firm faith. (W. Grant.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.