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Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Proverbs 4:26 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.
  • BSB Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
  • NKJV Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.
  • NASB Watch the path of your feet, And all your ways will be established.
  • NLT Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.

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

Make level paths for your feet and let your ways be sure. Thoughtful, deliberate living keeps one on a stable course.

Overview

The image shifts to the feet: consider your path carefully and establish your ways, removing obstacles and choosing a sure course. Wisdom involves forethought about the direction and consequences of one's conduct. Such ordered living reflects the steadiness God gives to those who walk in his ways (Ps 37:23).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Ps 37:23The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
  • Heb 12:13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
  • Ps 119:5O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
  • 2 Th 3:3But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
  • Hag 1:5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
  • Hag 1:7Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
  • Prov 5:21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
  • Ps 119:59I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
  • Ezek 18:28Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
  • Eph 5:15See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
  • Ps 40:2He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
  • Prov 5:6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
  • 1 Th 3:13To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
  • Eph 5:17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
  • 1 Pet 5:10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 4:26YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 4:26 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.