Proverbs 3:23

3:21-26 Let us not suffer Christ's words to depart from us, but keep sound wisdom and discretion; then shall we walk safely in his ways. The natural life, and all that belongs to it, shall be under the protection of God's providence; the spiritual life, and all its interests, under the protection of his grace, so that we shall be kept from falling into sin or trouble.

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.

Proverbs 3:23 . Then shalt thou walk in thy way — Manage all thy employments and concerns safely, securely, or confidently, without danger or fear, casting thy care on God, in the discharge of thy duty. And thy foot shall not stumble — At those stumbling-blocks, trials, and temptations, at which heedless sinners commonly stumble, and by which they fall. Thy natural life, and all that belongs to it, shall be under the protection of God’s providence; thy spiritual life, and all its interests, under the protection of his grace; so that thou shalt be kept from falling into sin or trouble. Wisdom shall direct thee into and keep thee in the right way, as far as may be from temptation, and will enable thee to walk in it with holy security, and thou shalt find the way of duty to be the way of safety.

Walk in thy way; manage all thy employments and concerns. Safely, or securely , or confidently , without danger or fear; casting thy care upon God in the discharge of thy duty. Shall not stumble at those stumbling-blocks and temptations at which heedless sinners commonly stumble and fall. Thou shalt thereby be kept from falling into sin, and that mischief which generally attends upon it.

Verse 23. - Then shall thou walk in thy way safely. The first of the promises of protection, which follow from vers. 23-26. He who keeps "sound wisdom and discretion" shall enjoy the greatest sense of security in all situations of life. Safely ( lavetakh ); either in confidence, as Vulgate fiducialiter, i.e. confidently, because of the sense of security (cf. LXX., πεποιθὼς ἐν εἰρήνῃ , and ver. 26); or in security: the adverb lavetakh is equivalent to betakh in Proverbs 1:30 and Proverbs 10:9. The allusion is obvious. As he who is accompanied by an escort proceeds on his way in safety, so you protected by God will pass your life in security; or, as Trapp, "Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, 'the peace of God' within thee ( Philippians 4:7 ), and the 'power of God' without thee ( 1 Peter 1:5 )." And thy foot shall not stumble; literally, and thou shall not strike thy foot. Stumble in the original is thiggoph , 2 singular kal future of nagaph , "to smite, .... strike against with the foot." So in Psalm 91:12 . The Authorized Version, however, correctly gives the sense. The LXX., like the Authorized Version, makes "foot" the subject, Ὁ δὲ ποῦς σου σὺ μὴ προσκόψῃ , "(That) thy foot may not stumble." For a similar assurance, see Proverbs 4:12 . The meaning is: You will not stumble, because you will be walking in the way of wisdom, which is free from stumbling blocks (Lapide). You will not fall into sin. Proverbs 3:23

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" equals in good cheer), with ל of the condition, is of the same meaning as the conditional adverbial accusative בּטח, Proverbs 10:9; Proverbs 1:33. Proverbs 3:23 the lxx translate ὁ δὲ πούς σου οὐ μὴ προσκόψῃ, while, on the contrary, at Psalm 91:12 they make the person the subject (μήποτε προσκόψῃς τὸν κ.τ.λ.); here also we retain more surely the subject from 23a, especially since for the intrans. of נגף (to smite, to push) a Hithpa. התנגּף is used Jeremiah 13:16. In Proverbs 3:24 there is the echo of Job 11:18, and in Proverbs 3:25 of Job 5:21. Proverbs 3:24 is altogether the same as Job 5:24 : et decumbes et suavis erit somnus tuus equals si decubueris, suavis erit. The hypothetic perf., according to the sense, is both there and at Job 11:18 (cf. Jeremiah 20:9) oxytoned as perf. consec. Similar examples are Proverbs 6:22; Genesis 33:13; 1 Samuel 25:31, cf.

Ewald, 357a. ערבה (of sleep as Jeremiah 31:26) is from ערב, which in Hebr. is used of pleasing impressions, as the Arab. ‛ariba of a lively, free disposition. שׁנה, somnus (nom. actionis from ישׁן, with the ground-form sina preserved in the Arab. lidat, vid., Job, p. 284, note), agrees in inflexion with שׁנה, annus. אל, Proverbs 3:25, denies, like Psalm 121:3, with emphasis: be afraid only not equals thou hast altogether nothing to fear. Schultens rightly says: Subest species prohibitionis et tanquam abominationis, ne tale quicquam vel in suspicionem veniat in mentemve cogitando admittatur. פּחד here means terror, as Proverbs 1:26., the terrific object; פּתאם (with the accus. om) is the virtual genitive, as Proverbs 26:2 חנּם (with accus. am). Regarding שׁאה, see under Proverbs 1:27. The genitive רשׁעים may be, after Psalm 37:18, the genit. subjecti, but still it lies nearer to say that he who chooses the wisdom of God as his guiding star has no ground to fear punishment as transgressors have reason to fear it; the שׁאה is meant which wisdom threatens against transgressors, Proverbs 1:27. He needs have no fear of it, for wisdom is a gift of God, and binds him who receives it to the giver: Jahve becomes and is henceforth his confidence. Regarding ב essentiae, which expresses the closest connection of the subject with the predicate which it introduces, see under Psalm 35:2.