Psalms 37:10

37:10 Evil men will soon disappear; ¹ 

you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone. ² 

Psalms 37:35-37

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ³ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ⁴ 

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! ⁵ 

I looked for them, but they could not be found.

37:37 Take note of the one who has integrity! Observe the godly! ⁶ 

For the one who promotes peace has a future. ⁷ 

[37:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and yet, a little, there will be no wicked [one].”

[37:10]  ² tn Heb “and you will carefully look upon his place, but he will not be [there].” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer is in view.

[37:35]  ³ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.

[37:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he passes by and, look, he is not [there].” The subject of the verb “passes by” is probably indefinite, referring to any passerby. Some prefer to change the form to first person, “and I passed by” (cf. NEB; note the first person verbal forms in preceding verse and in the following line).

[37:37]  ⁶ tn Or “upright.”

[37:37]  ⁷ tn Heb “for [there is] an end for a man of peace.” Some interpret אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see the next verse and Ps 109:13; cf. NEB, NRSV).