to fall · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
down
יוּטָ֑לyu.Tal
H2904
to pitch over or reel · verb, hophal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְ֝הוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
upholdeth
סוֹמֵ֥ךְso.Mekh
H5564
to prop (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
hand
יָדֽוֹya.Do
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Psalms 145:14 The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
Psalms 94:18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
Micah 7:7-8 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Psalms 40:2 He 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.
Psalms 34:19-20 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 37:21-33
These verses are much to the same purport with the foregoing verses of this psalm, for it is a subject worthy to be dwelt upon. Observe here,
I. What is required of us as the way to our happiness, which we may learn both from the characters here laid down and from the directions here given. If we would be blessed of God, 1. We must make conscience of giving every body his own; for the wicked borrows and pays not again, Psa 37:21. It is the first thing which the Lord our God requires of us, that we do justly, and render to all their due. It is not only a shameful paltry thing, but a sinful wicked thing, not to repay what we have borrowed. Some make this an instance, not so much of the wickedn…
steps--way, or, "course of life"; as ordered by God, failures will not be permanent.
John Gill on Psalms 37:24
Though he fall,.... Into temptation, and by it into sins, and these very great ones; from a lively and comfortable exercise of grace, and a degree of steadfastness in the doctrine of grace:
he shall not be utterly cast down; because he is in the arms of everlasting love, and in the hands of Christ Jesus; is on him as the sure foundation, and is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, and so shall not perish, but have everlasting life;
for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand; with the right hand of his righteousness, and keeps him from falling finally and totally; see Isaiah 41:10; and See Gill on Psalm 37:17.
John Calvin on Psalms 37:23-26
Psalm 37:23-26
23. The footsteps of a man are directed by Jehovah, and he will delight [or, take pleasure] in his way. 24. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for Jehovah upholdeth him with his hand. 25. I have been young, I am also become old; and yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 26. He is daily merciful, and lendeth, and his seed is for blessing.
23 The footsteps of a man are directed by Jehovah Some join together these two things, first, that the footsteps of the godly are ordered by the grace of God, since men do not in their own strength follow what is just and right, but only in so far as the Spirit of God directs them; and hence…
The Church Fathers
It is impossible for anyone to travel blamelessly the way of virtue without God's grace. He works in association with those who have this intent: for the acquisition of virtue there is need of human zeal and divine assistance at one and the same time. Thus, you see, even if the one traveling this path should slip, he will gain divine support. Likewise, when blessed David stumbled and ran the risk of coming to grief, he was borne up by divine grace.
"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth his hand." See what it is "to delight in" Christ's "way." Should it happen that he suffers some tribulation; some forfeiture of honour, some affliction, some loss, some contumely, or all those other accidents incident to mankind frequently in this life, he sets the Lord before him, what kind of trials He endured! and, "though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth his hand," because He has suffered before him. For what shouldest thou fear, O man, whose steps are ordered so, that thou shouldest "delight in the way of the Lord"? What shouldest thou fear? Pain? Christ was scourged. Shouldest thou fear contumelies? He was reproached with, "Thou hast a devil," who was Himself casting out the devils. Haply thou fearest faction, and the conspiracy of the wicked. Conspiracy was made against Him. Thou canst not make clear the purity of thy conscience in some accusation, and sufferest wrong and violence, because false witnesses are listened to against thee. False witness was borne against Him first, not only before His death, but also after His resurrection...
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
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Backsliding · Not hopeless — Not hopeless
Blessing · SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD — SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD
Perseverance · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Protection · Is vouchsafed to saints in: Upholding them — Is vouchsafed to saints in: Upholding them
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).
By Jahve (מן, ἀπό, almost equivalent to ὑπό with the passive, as in Job 24:1; Ecc 12:11, and in a few other passages) are a man's steps made firm, established; not: ordered or directed (lxx, Jerome, κατευθύνεται), which, according to the extant usage of the language, would be הוּכנוּ (passive of הכין, Pro 16:9; Jer 10:23; Ch2 27:6), whereas כּוננוּ, the Pulal of כּונן, is to be understood according to Psa 40:3. By גּבר is meant man in an emphatic sense (Job 38:3), and in fact in an ethical sense; compare, on the other hand, the expression of the more general saying, "Man proposes, and God disposes," Pro 16:9; Pro 20:24; Jer 10:23. Psa 37:23 shows that it is the upright man that is meant…
The rectitude and strength of a godly person’s life comes from the Lord (see Prov 4:12; 14:15; 16:9; 20:24).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 37:24
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
Though he fall. Disasters and reverses may lay him low; he may, like Job, be stripped of everything; like Joseph, be put in prison; like Jonah, be cast into the deep. He shall not be utterly cast down. He shall not be altogether prostrate. He shall be brought on his knees, but not on his face; or, if laid prone for a moment, he shall be up again ere long. No saint shall fall finally or fatally. Sorrow may bring us to the earth, and death may bring us to the grave, but lower we cannot sink, and out of the lowest of all we shall arise to the highest of all. For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Co…
