Hebrew word · H1762

דְּחִי

midechi

falling

A shove or thrust, and the fall that follows. It is a noun from the verb dāḥâ, 'push, thrust down, overthrow.' The noun appears only here and in Ps 56:13.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

a stumbling, falling

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 116:8

Range of meaning

A shove or thrust, and the fall that follows. It is a noun from the verb dāḥâ, 'push, thrust down, overthrow.' The noun appears only here and in Ps 56:13. The verb is used for pushing someone so that they fall (Ps 118:13), for enemies planning to 'trip up' someone's steps (Ps 140:4), for a sagging, toppling wall (Ps 62:3), and for the angel of the LORD driving the wicked away (Ps 35:5).

Against the English

'Falling' (KJV, WEB) and 'stumbling' (BSB) are acceptable. YLT's 'overthrowing' keeps the sense that some force is at work. 'Stumbling' can suggest one's own clumsiness, or in church language one's own sin. The Hebrew suggests being knocked down.

How it drifted

In Christian usage 'stumble' became a common figure for falling into sin (from New Testament skandalon / proskomma language). That makes it easy to read 'my feet from stumbling' as moral protection.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 118:13, in the same group of Hallel psalms: dāḥōh deḥîtanî linpōl, 'you pushed me hard so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.' The Septuagint here uses olisthēma, 'a slip, a sliding.'

From the study of Psalm 56:13

Range of meaning

A push, a shove, a being thrust down, hence a fall. It is found only here and in Ps 116:8 and comes from the verb dachah, 'push, thrust down' (Ps 118:13: 'you pushed me hard so that I was falling'; Ps 140:4: men who plan 'to trip up my steps').

Against the English

'Stumbling' (BSB, NIV, NASB), 'falling' (KJV, ESV, WEB, YLT), 'slipping' (NLT). All suggest the walker's own misstep. The Hebrew points to someone else knocking him down.

How it drifted

In church language 'stumbling' usually means moral failure or falling into sin. That use comes from passages such as Jude 24 and New Testament 'stumbling block' language, not from this word.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Ps 116:8 the same word appears in a nearly identical line, beside 'my eyes from tears'. The Septuagint translates it olisthēma ('a slip, a fall'), and the Latin Vulgate has lapsus ('fall').

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 56:13 מִ֫דֶּ֥חִי from stumbling

    For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

    Here: 'From a shove', meaning being pushed over. This rare noun appears only here and in Ps 116:8. It comes from the verb 'to push or thrust down', so the fall is one caused by an attacker, not a moral slip.

  2. Psalm 116:8 מִדֶּֽחִי׃ from stumbling

    For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

    Here: 'From being pushed down.' The noun comes from a verb meaning to shove or thrust, so it pictures a fall that something causes, like being knocked off your feet. It is not mainly a careless slip, and here it is not a moral failure.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.