When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
Parallel translations
- KJV When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
- BSB When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.
- NKJV When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble.
- NASB When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; And if you run, you will not stumble.
- NLT When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t 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
On wisdom's path your steps are unhindered and you will not stumble. The way of wisdom is free and steady.
Overview
Walking in wisdom, one finds the way unobstructed and secure, whether moving slowly or running. The wise are not tripped up by the snares that catch the foolish. This pictures the freedom and stability of a life ordered by God's truth, which Christ gives to those who walk in him (John 8:31-32).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 3:23Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won’t stumble.
- Ps 18:36You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
- 1 Pet 2:8and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
- John 11:9–10Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
- 2 Sam 22:37You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped.
- 1 Jn 2:10–11He who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him.
- Ps 91:11–12For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
- Prov 4:19The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
- Ps 119:165Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.
- Job 18:7–8The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down.
- Prov 6:22When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.
- Rom 9:32–33Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;
- Jer 31:9They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:12 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.