My foot has held fast to his steps translates the Hebrew literally. The two lines of verse 11 are closely alike in meaning. It is an example of the reverse of the usual practice of parallelism, in which the figurative term occurs in line b with the more general one in line a. In a similar manner Psalm 17.5 says “My steps have held fast to thy path.” My foot is the specific part of the body representing the person’s action, “walk, go”; held fast means “loyally, faithfully”; and his steps is a poetic metaphor for “the way he goes,” “wherever he goes,” or “the way he takes.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “My footsteps have followed close in his.” This line may sometimes be rendered, for example “I take each step by walking in his footprints” or “I follow him by walking on his footprints.”

I have kept his way and have not turned aside: his way means “the way God has shown” or “the way God has marked out” In some languages this can be expressed as “the trail God himself has cut out.” Not turned aside means being “loyal, faithful, devoted, unswerving.” This line may be expressed, for example, “I have gone the way he has shown me and been faithful to him” or “I have followed faithfully the path he has shown me.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .