Psalms 37:12

37:12 Evil men plot against the godly ¹ 

and viciously attack them. ² 

Psalms 37:16

37:16 The little bit that a godly man owns is better than

the wealth of many evil men, ³ 

Psalms 37:32

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ⁴ 

Psalms 37:35

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ⁵ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ⁶ 

Psalms 37:38

37:38 Sinful rebels are totally destroyed; ⁷ 

evil men have no future. ⁸ 

Psalms 73:3

73:3 For I envied those who are proud,

as I observed ⁹  the prosperity ¹⁰  of the wicked.

Psalms 82:4

82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!

Deliver them from the power ¹¹  of the wicked!

Psalms 91:8

91:8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes –

you will see the wicked paid back. ¹² 

Psalms 106:18

106:18 Fire burned their group;

the flames scorched the wicked. ¹³ 

Psalms 109:7

109:7 When he is judged, he will be found ¹⁴  guilty! ¹⁵ 

Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

Psalms 119:53

119:53 Rage takes hold of me because of the wicked,

those who reject your law.

Psalms 119:61

119:61 The ropes of the wicked tighten around ¹⁶  me,

but I do not forget your law.

Psalms 119:95

119:95 The wicked prepare to kill me, ¹⁷ 

yet I concentrate on your rules.

Psalms 129:4

129:4 The Lord is just;

he cut the ropes of the wicked.” ¹⁸ 

[37:12]  ¹ tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.

[37:12]  ² tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.

[37:16]  ³ tn Heb “Better [is] a little to the godly one than the wealth of many evil ones.” The following verses explain why this is true. Though a godly individual may seem to have only meager possessions, he always has what he needs and will eventually possess the land. The wicked may prosper for a brief time, but will eventually be destroyed by divine judgment and lose everything.

[37:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.

[37:35]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ⁸ 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.

[37:38]  ⁹ tn Or “destroyed together.” In this case the psalmist pictures judgment sweeping them away as a group.

[37:38]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the end of evil men is cut off.” As in v. 37, some interpret אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see Ps 109:13). The perfect verbal forms in v. 38 probably express general truths. Another option is that they are used emphatically to state with certitude that the demise of the wicked is as good as done.

[73:3]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal form here depicts the action as continuing in a past time frame.

[73:3]  ¹² tn Heb “peace” (שָׁלוֹם, shalom).

[82:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “hand.”

[91:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “retribution on the wicked.”

[106:18]  ¹⁷ sn Verses 16-18 describe the events of Num 16:1-40.

[109:7]  ¹⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.

[109:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).

[119:61]  ²¹ tn Heb “surround.”

[119:95]  ²³ tn Heb “the wicked wait for me to kill me.”

[129:4]  ²⁵ tn The background of the metaphor is not entirely clear. Perhaps the “ropes” are those used to harness the ox for plowing (see Job 39:10). Verse 3 pictures the wicked plowing God’s people as if they were a field. But when God “cut the ropes” of their ox, as it were, they could no longer plow. The point of the metaphor seems to be that God took away the enemies’ ability to oppress his people. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 187.