"He who walks blamelessly will be delivered, but he who is crooked will fall all at once"
blamelessly
This is the Hebrew word tam, which means perfect, complete, blameless. The idea is clearly that some people live their lives in such a way as to have nothing to hide. There are people who do not cheat or cut corners or shade the truth. This type of person will enjoy the benefit of the doubt in a dispute. This type of person does not have to remember what lie they told and to whom they told it. This type of person does not have a section of their time they can't account for or that they don't want anyone to know about. This type of person does their best work all the time.
These people are accused and threatened and mistreated because they make the corrupt person look bad, but the only thing they can be accused of is not going along with corruption, cheating, lying, stealing, and hidden activities.
delivered
This is the Hebrew word yasha, which means to deliver, to preserve, to save. Solomon is saying that if you live your life aboveboard and do not do lots of things under the table or illegally, then you don't have to worry that trouble will find you and destroy you.
It is interesting that Solomon acknowledges that the righteous will have difficulties and troubles from which they will need to be delivered. Those who live God's way do not have a life with no problems, but they have the promise of a way of deliverance and the perception to see it. They must take that way, but there will be a way.
crooked
This is two Hebrew words aqash, which means to twist and derek, which means way or road. The idea is that they twist or pervert the way they should go into something else and go a different way. Instead of doing what people would expect a moral person to do, they do something else – something selfish and hidden.
It is really easy to twist what you should do to serve your advantage instead of everyone's advantage. All of us are tempted to hide or lie or distort what we should do into something close but not quite ethical. Be careful because if you stay on this road, the road will collapse under you at some point. You may get away with it for some time but eventually it will cave in.
fall
This is the Hebrew word naphal, which means to fall, to abandon, to collapse, to cast down. Realize that those who are gaining riches through illegal means or power through hidden deals will receive judgment. Their hidden scheme of selfishness will collapse like a house of cards – either physically, financially, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, relationally. There are many ways that God has of seeing the twisted receive judgment. If not in this life, in the next one.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz