To slow (retard)someone's advance/ put obstacles in way of
He limited his scope of action. He made his steps limited.
("The steps of his wickedness shall be broken, and his counsel shall be cast away" - Job 18:7, and so: "The emperors of your prisons were lawmakers, lawmakers of iniquity, to break the feet of Israel and to plunder them" - Agnon/ The City and Its Fullness, 461)
Translation
Expression (Hebrew)
הֵצֵר אֶת צְעָדָיו
Definition (Hebrew)
הִגְבִּיל אֶת חֹפֶשׁ הַפְּעֻלָּה שֶׁלּוֹ. הָפַךְ אֶת צְעָדָיו לְמֻגְבָּלִים.
("יֵצְרוּ צַעֲדֵי אוֹנוֹ וְתַשְׁלִיכֵהוּ עֲצָתוֹ"- אִיּוֹב יח ז, וְכֵן:"שֶׁהָיוּ קֵיסָרֵי אוֹסְרֶיךָ חוֹקְקִים חִקְקֵי אָוֶן לְהָצֵר רַגְלֵיהֶם שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל וּלְהַבְזוֹתָם"- עַגְנוֹן/ עִיר וּמְלוֹאָהּ, 461)