Here the way a person lives and conducts himself is spoken of as if it were walking. For most of David's life he lived righteously and followed Yahweh closely. Alternate translation: "lived in the earlier ways of his father David" or "lived righteously as his father David had done in his earlier years" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-idiom]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit]])