Limitless Word
My steps have held to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.
Psalms 17:5 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.
  • KJV Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
  • BSB My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
  • NKJV Uphold my steps in Your paths, That my footsteps may not slip.
  • NLT My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you.

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

David's steps have held to God's paths so that his feet have not slipped. It matters because God keeps those who walk faithfully in his ways.

Overview

David declares that his steps have firmly held to God's paths and his feet have not slipped, expressing dependence on God to keep him steady. Faithful walking is itself sustained by God's grace. The believer's perseverance likewise rests on the keeping power of God in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Ps 44:18Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path,
  • Ps 119:133Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.
  • 1 Sam 2:9He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength.
  • Ps 121:7Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.
  • Ps 18:36You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
  • Ps 38:16For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”
  • Ps 121:3He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
  • Ps 94:18When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.
  • Jer 10:23Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
  • Job 23:11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.
  • Ps 119:116–117Uphold me according to your word, that I may live. Let me not be ashamed of my hope.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 17:5YouTube · 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 PsalmsMatthew 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

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 17:5 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.