a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
safely
לָבֶ֣טַחla.Ve.tach
H983
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
foot
וְ֝רַגְלְךָ֗ve.rag.le.kha
H7272
a foot (as used in walking) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
stumble
תִגּֽוֹףti.Gof
H5062
to push · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 4:12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
Proverbs 10:9 He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.
Psalms 91:11-12 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psalms 121:3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Psalms 37:23-24 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psalms 37:31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
Psalms 121:8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Proverbs 2:8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 3:21-26
Solomon, having pronounced those happy who not only lay hold on wisdom, but retain her, here exhorts us therefore to retain her, assuring us that we ourselves shall have the comfort of doing so.
I. The exhortation is, to have religion's rules always in view and always at heart, Pro 3:21. 1. To have them always in view: "My son, let them not depart from thy eyes; let not thy eyes ever depart from them to wander after vanity. Have them always in mind, and do not forget them; be ever and anon thinking of them, and conversing with them, and never imagine that thou hast looked upon them long enough and that it is time now to lay them by; but, as long as thou livest, keep up and cultivate thy acqu…
assign reasons in their value for happiness and ornament, guidance and support in dangers, both when waking and sleeping.
John Gill on Proverbs 3:23
Then shall thou walk in thy way safely,.... In the way of thy duty and business, without fear of any enemy; having in sight the Captain of salvation gone before, and walking in such ways of pleasantness and peace as Wisdom's are; and having such a lamp to the feet, and such a light unto the paths, as the Gospel and its doctrines be;
and thy foot shall not stumble; at the word and the truths of it, as some men do, being thereunto appointed; and at Christ, the stumbling stone laid in Zion, particularly at his justifying righteousness; see 1 Peter 2:8.
Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 3:23-26
But more than this, wisdom makes its possessor in all situations of life confident in God:
23 Then shalt thou go thy way with confidence,
And thy foot shall not stumble.
24 When thou liest down, thou are not afraid,
But thou layest thyself down and hast sweet sleep.
25 Thou needest not be afraid of sudden alarm,
Nor for the storm of the wicked when it breaketh forth.
26 For Jahve will be thy confidence
And keep thy foot from the snare.
The לבטח (cf. our "bei guter Laune" = in good cheer), with ל of the condition, is of the same meaning as the conditional adverbial accusative בּטח, Pro 10:9; Pro 1:33. Pro 3:23 the lxx translate ὁ δὲ πούς σου οὐ μὴ προσκόψῃ, while, on the contrary, at P…
The Church Fathers
I also have other feet, concerning which Solomon gives me an injunction when he says: "Your foot will not stumble."
Then you will walk confidently in your way. We walk confidently in our way when, trusting in the grace of God, we undertake progress in our good conversation. Therefore, if we humbly submit to His commands, and taste the sweetness of heavenly love with the palate of our mind, we will always obtain an increase in good works. Moreover, with His help, we are defended in temptations so that we do not falter. For this is what follows: "And your foot will not stumble. For all things work together for good to those who love God."
Before the Lord's coming, philosophy was an essential guide to righteousness for the Greeks. At the present time, it is a useful guide toward reverence for God. It is a kind of preliminary education for those who are trying to gather faith through demonstration. "Your foot will not stumble," says Scripture, if you attribute good things, whether Greek or Christian, to Providence. God is responsible for all good things: of some directly, like the blessings of the Old and New Covenants, of others indirectly, like the riches of philosophy. Perhaps philosophy too was a direct gift of God to the Greeks before the Lord extended his appeal to the Greeks. For philosophy was to the Greek world what the Law was to the Hebrews, a tutor escorting them to Christ. So philosophy is a preparatory process; it opens the road for the person whom Christ brings to his final goal.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Feet, The · To be guided by wisdom and discretion — To be guided by wisdom and discretion
Wisdom · .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
This passage enumerates the benefits of common sense and discernment, which are fruits of wisdom.
Rashi on Proverbs 3:23
shall not stumble Heb. לא תגוף. This is an expression of stumbling, (achopper in French, straucheln in German. And so in Jeremiah 13:16 Psalms 91.12.) And so (Ps. 91:12). “Lest your foot stumble (תגף) on a stone”; and so (Jer. 13:16): “And before your feet stumble (יתנגפו)” and so (Ex. 21:22): “and they dash (ונגפו) a pregnant woman.”
