By David.
37:1 Do not fret 2 when wicked men seem to succeed! 3
Do not envy evildoers!
37:8 Do not be angry and frustrated! 4
Do not fret! That only leads to trouble!
38:21 Do not abandon me, O Lord!
My God, do not remain far away from me!
44:6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up! 5 Do not reject us forever!
50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats? 6
51:11 Do not reject me! 7
Do not take your Holy Spirit 8 away from me! 9
71:9 Do not reject me in my old age! 10
When my strength fails, do not abandon me!
114:5 Why do you flee, O sea?
Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?
ע (Ayin)
119:121 I do what is fair and right. 11
Do not abandon me to my oppressors!
1 sn Psalm 37. The psalmist urges his audience not to envy the wicked, but to trust in and obey the Lord, for he will destroy sinners and preserve the godly. When the smoke of judgment clears, the wicked will be gone, but the godly will remain and inherit God’s promised blessings. The psalm is an acrostic; every other verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
2 tn The verb form is singular (see vv. 3-10 as well, where the second person verbs and pronouns are also singular). The psalmist’s exhortation has a wisdom flavor to it; it is personalized for each member of his audience.
3 tn Heb “over sinners.” The context indicates that the psalmist has in mind the apparent power and success of sinners. See v. 7b.
4 tn Heb “Refrain from anger! Abandon rage!”
5 sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.
6 tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”
7 tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”
8 sn Your Holy Spirit. The personal Spirit of God is mentioned frequently in the OT, but only here and in Isa 63:10-11 is he called “your/his Holy Spirit.”
9 sn Do not take…away. The psalmist expresses his fear that, due to his sin, God will take away the Holy Spirit from him. NT believers enjoy the permanent gift of the Holy Spirit and need not make such a request nor fear such a consequence. However, in the OT God’s Spirit empowered certain individuals for special tasks and only temporarily resided in them. For example, when God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him, the divine Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14).
10 tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”
11 tn Heb “do justice and righteousness.”