Psalms 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands; ¹ 

I do not deviate from them. ² 

Psalms 18:36

18:36 You widen my path; ³ 

my feet ⁴  do not slip.

Psalms 37:23

37:23 The Lord grants success to the one

whose behavior he finds commendable. ⁵ 

Psalms 119:133

119:133 Direct my steps by your word! ⁶ 

Do not let any sin dominate me!

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

[17:5]  ² tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

[18:36]  ³ tn Heb “you make wide my step under me.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives the psalmist the capacity to run quickly.

[18:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”

[37:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the Lord the steps of a man are established, and in his way he delights.” The second line qualifies the first. The man whose behavior is commendable in God’s sight is the one whose ways are established by God. Another option is that the second line refers to the godly man delighting in God’s “way,” namely the lifestyle which he prescribes for men. In this case one might translate, “The Lord grants success to the one who desires to obey his commands.”

[119:133]  ⁶ tn God’s “word” refers here to his law (see v. 11).