1 Samuel 2:9

He watches over ¹  his holy ones, ²  but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness, for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails;

"He keeps the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a man prevail.

He will protect his godly ones, but the wicked will perish in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.

He protectively cares for his faithful friends, step by step, but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark. No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!

He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the evil-doers will come to their end in the dark night, for by strength no man will overcome.

"He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail.

He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail.

He watches over ¹  his holy ones, ²  but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness, for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails.

¹ tn Heb “guards the feet of.” The expression means that God watches over and protects the godly in all of their activities and movements. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading the plural (“his holy ones”) rather than the singular (“his holy one”) of the Kethib.