You put my feet also in the stocks, and watch closely all my paths; you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
Read Chapter 13
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Stocks, in which the person's legs were sometimes stretched to the sixth hole; (Calmet) at other times, the neck was confined. (Menochius)
Some translate the Hebrew, "in the mud "which agrees with the other part of the verse.
Steps. Hebrew and Septuagint, "roots "or ankles, which retained the prints made by the stocks.
63. God ‘set man’s foot in the stocks,’ in that he bound fast his wickedness with the strong sentence of His severity. And He ‘looketh narrowly into all his paths,’ in that He judges with minute exactness all the several particulars that belong to him. For a ‘path’ is usually narrower than a ‘way;’ but as by ‘ways’ we understand actions, so by ‘paths’ we not unjustly understand the mere thoughts of them. So God ‘looketh narrowly into all our paths,’ in that in all our several actions He takes account of the thoughts of the heart too; and He ‘marketh the prints of our feet,’ in that He examineth the intentions [i] of our works, how far they are placed aright, lest that which is done a good work, be not done with a right object. But it is possible that by the prints of the feet the several things done badly may be understood. For a foot in the body is a print in the way. And very commonly, when we do some things wrong, whereas our brethren see it, we are setting them a bad example...
