The Steps of a Man
21 The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back, but the righteous give generously. 22 For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land. Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off. 23 A man’s steps are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way. 24 Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread. 26 All day long he deals graciously, and lends. His offspring is blessed. 27 Depart from evil, and do good. Live securely forever. 28 For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and live in it forever. 30 The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice. 31 The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. 32 The wicked watch the righteous, and seek to kill him. 33 Yahweh will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. 34 Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the perfect man, and see the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. 38 As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. 40 Yahweh helps them and rescues them. He rescues them from the wicked and saves them, because they have taken refuge in him.
The argument is finished with a piece of testimony: an old man reports what he has and has not seen.
The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back, but the righteous give generously.
The second half of the psalm keeps its two columns running side by side and adds detail to each. The contrast here is financial and it is exact: one takes and does not return, the other gives without the question of return arising.
23 A man’s steps are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way. 24 Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.
The stumble is conceded. This is not a promise of a life without missteps but of a hand under the arm during them, and the distinction between stumbling and falling is the whole verse.
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.
The most contested sentence in the psalm, and it should be read as what it says it is: testimony. An old man is reporting the range of his own observation, not issuing a guarantee — and the same collection contains a psalm that ends in unrelieved darkness Psalms 88 and another that watches the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper Psalms 73. Scripture does not use this verse to promise that no believer will ever be destitute, and reading it that way sets it against the book it is in. What the old man is saying is that in a long life he has not found God abandoning his own — which is a claim about God's faithfulness rather than about anyone's balance sheet.
Depart from evil, and do good. Live securely forever.
For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The ground of the whole argument, stated at last. The psalm's confidence about the future rests on a statement about God's character, not on a pattern observed in events.
The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
The internalized law of the first psalm, and it is offered as the explanation for the sure footing of verse twenty-three.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
The second piece of testimony, and it balances the first. He has seen the righteous not forsaken; he has also seen the powerful man vanish. A tree in its own soil is the image of something perfectly established, and the psalm's answer is not that it was uprooted but that the observer went back and it was not there.
But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The last word is not that the righteous outlast the wicked, but where their salvation comes from.
settled What this mark means