When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.
Parallel translations
- KJV When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
- BSB If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loving devotion, O LORD, supports me.
- NKJV If I say, “My foot slips,” Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up.
- NASB If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your faithfulness, Lord, will support me.
- NLT I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
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
When the psalmist's foot was slipping, God's steadfast love held him up. God's covenant love sustains the believer at the point of collapse.
Overview
The image of a slipping foot pictures the moment of failing strength and faltering faith. At just that point, God's faithful love (chesed) upholds and steadies him. This tender, sustaining grace is the experience of all who are kept by God's power through faith in Christ (1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 121:3He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.
- Isa 41:10Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
- Ps 119:116–117Uphold me according to your word, that I may live. Let me not be ashamed of my hope.
- Ps 37:23–24A man’s goings are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way.
- Ps 38:16For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”
- Ps 17:5My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.
- Luke 22:32but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”
- 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 73:2But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.
- 1 Pet 1:5who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- John 12:5“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 94:18 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.