Hebrew word · H4571

מָעַד

mu'adet

to slip

To slip, slide, totter, wobble. It is used of feet, ankles and steps, and by extension of losing your footing in life: falling into disaster or failing in loyalty.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to slip, slide, totter, shake

1a) (Qal) to slip

1b) (Hiphil) to cause or make to shake or totter

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 26:1

Range of meaning

To slip, slide, totter, wobble. It is used of feet, ankles and steps, and by extension of losing your footing in life: falling into disaster or failing in loyalty.

Against the English

KJV: 'I shall not slide' (adding 'therefore' in italics). YLT: 'I slide not'. BSB, ESV, NASB, NLT and WEB: 'without wavering'. NIV: 'have not faltered'. 'Wavering' moves the picture from the feet to the mind (inner doubt). The Hebrew picture is a foot that stays firm on the path.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 18:36 (= 2 Sam 22:37): 'my ankles did not slip (lōʾ māʿădû)'. Ps 37:31: of the righteous person, 'his steps do not slip'. Prov 25:19: trusting a faithless man is like 'a foot that slips'. Ps 69:23: 'make their loins totter'. The Septuagint gives ou mē asthenēsō, 'I will surely not grow weak'.

From the study of Proverbs 25:19

Range of meaning

From מָעַד, 'to slip, slide, totter'. It is used of feet and ankles giving way (2 Sam 22:37 = Ps 18:36, 'my ankles did not slip'; Ps 26:1; 37:31, 'his steps do not slip'; Ps 69:23). The form here is a passive participle: 'made to slip', so wobbling or wrenched.

Against the English

KJV and BSB have 'out of joint', NIV 'lame', ESV 'foot that slips', NASB 'unsteady foot', WEB 'lame foot', YLT 'tottering foot'. 'Lame' suggests a permanent disability you already know about. The Hebrew picture is a foot that gives way at the moment you step on it.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Psalms, a foot that does not slip is a picture of security under God's care (Ps 18:36; 37:31). A slipping foot is the start of a fall into ruin (Ps 38:16; 94:18 uses the related verb מוט).

From the study of Psalm 69:23

Range of meaning

To slip, slide or totter, mostly of feet or ankles (Ps 18:36; 26:1; 37:31; Job 12:5). The causative form (used here) means to make something slip or wobble.

Against the English

KJV and ESV/NASB 'make… shake/tremble' are close. BSB, WEB and NIV 'be bent' follow the Septuagint's 'bend down,' a different picture: being bowed under a load rather than shaking.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 18:36 ('my ankles did not slip') and Psalm 37:31 ('his steps do not slip') show the ordinary sense. In Ezekiel 29:7 the Hebrew text reads 'you made all their loins stand.' Many scholars correct that to the same verb as here, 'you made all their loins totter,' which would give a close parallel. That correction is a scholarly proposal, not the received text.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:37 מָעֲד֖וּ they slip

    You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.

Job · 1

  1. Job 12:5 לְמ֣וֹעֲדֵי [belongs] to [those who] are sliding of

    The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 18:36 מָ֝עֲד֗וּ they have slipped

    You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.

    Here: The ankle wobbles or turns under you on uneven or narrow ground. The tense marks a completed fact: they did not give way. Elsewhere in the Psalms the same verb stands for a person's life or loyalty not wavering (Ps 26:1; 37:31).

  2. Psalm 26:1 אֶמְעָֽד׃ I will slip

    Of David. Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

    Here: A walker's word for the foot or ankle giving way. It finishes the walking picture: he has walked, and he does not (or will not) stumble. It can be read as describing his trust ('without wavering') or as confidence about what comes next ('I shall not slip').

  3. Psalm 37:31 תִמְעַ֣ד it slips

    The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.

    Here: The picture of a foot or ankle sliding out from under someone. The verb form describes what usually happens or will happen, so it can mean 'do not slip' or 'will not slip.' It is singular, with the plural 'steps' as its subject, which Hebrew allows and which gives a sense of 'not one of his steps' (as the KJV takes it).

  4. Psalm 69:23 הַמְעַֽד׃ make to shake

    May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.

    Here: A direct command to God: 'make (them) totter!' The verb means slipping or wobbling, as of feet or ankles (Ps 18:36). Here the hips themselves buckle, which is the picture of terror or collapse. The psalm moves from a wish ('may…') to a direct appeal to God, and that leads into verse 24's 'Pour out your wrath.'

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 25:19 מוּעָ֑דֶת slipped

    Like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint is confidence in a faithless man in time of trouble.

    Here: A foot that slips or turns under you, wrenched or unsteady (KJV 'out of joint'). It fails just as weight comes onto it, so the walker falls. The word is also used in Psalms for a foot that slips into disaster.

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