Psalms 37:12-17

37:12 Evil men plot against the godly ¹ 

and viciously attack them. ² 

37:13 The Lord laughs in disgust ³  at them,

for he knows that their day is coming. ⁴ 

37:14 Evil men draw their swords

and prepare their bows,

to bring down ⁵  the oppressed and needy,

and to slaughter those who are godly. ⁶ 

37:15 Their swords will pierce ⁷  their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

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

the wealth of many evil men, ⁸ 

37:17 for evil men will lose their power, ⁹ 

but the Lord sustains ¹⁰  the godly.

Psalms 37:28-29

37:28 For the Lord promotes ¹¹  justice,

and never abandons ¹²  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ¹³ 

but the children ¹⁴  of evil men are wiped out. ¹⁵ 

37:29 The godly will possess the land

and will dwell in it permanently.

[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.

[37:13]  ³ tn Heb “laughs.” As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter (see 2:4). The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes the action from the perspective of an eye-witness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.

[37:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “for he sees that his day is coming.” As the following context makes clear (vv. 15, 17, 19-20), “his day” refers to the time when God will destroy evildoers.

[37:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “to cause to fall.”

[37:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.

[37:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “enter into.”

[37:16]  ⁸ 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.

[37:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “for the arms of the evil ones will be broken.”

[37:17]  ¹⁰ tn The active participle here indicates this is characteristically true.

[37:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ¹² tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ¹³ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ¹⁴ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ¹⁵ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.