I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word.
- BSB I have kept my feet from every evil path, that I may keep Your word.
- NKJV I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.
- NASB I have restrained my feet from every evil way, So that I may keep Your word.
- NLT I have refused to walk on any evil path, so that I may remain obedient to your word.
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
He has restrained his feet from every evil path in order to keep God's word. Obedience requires deliberate avoidance of sin.
Overview
The psalmist describes active self-discipline, holding himself back from wicked ways so that he may obey God's word. Keeping the word involves not only doing good but refusing evil. This guarding of one's steps anticipates the call to walk in the light and to put off sin, made possible by Christ who keeps His own from falling (Prov. 4:14-15; Jude 24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Pet 3:10–11For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
- Prov 1:15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
- Ps 119:104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
- Isa 55:7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
- Ps 119:59–60I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
- Titus 2:11–12For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
- 1 Pet 2:1–2Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
- Isa 53:6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- Ps 18:23I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
- Ps 119:126It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
- Jer 2:36Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 119:101 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.