They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won’t stumble.
- KJV Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
- BSB Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
- NKJV Then you will walk safely in your way, And your foot will not stumble.
- NASB Then you will walk in your way securely, And your foot will not stumble.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The one who keeps wisdom walks securely and will not stumble. A life ordered by wisdom is steadied against ruin.
Overview
Using the common Proverbs image of the path, the father promises that wisdom gives sure footing through life's dangers. This is general truth, not a guarantee against all hardship, but a confidence that the wise are kept from the self-inflicted falls of folly. Believers walk securely in Christ, who is the way (John 14:6) and who keeps his own from ultimate stumbling (Jude 24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 10:9He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.
- Prov 4:12When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
- Ps 121:3He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
- Ps 91:11–12For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
- Ps 121:8Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.
- Ps 37:31The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
- Ps 37:23–24A man’s goings are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way.
- Zech 10:12I will strengthen them in Yahweh; and they will walk up and down in his name,” says Yahweh.
- Prov 2:8that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 3:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.