37:10 Evil men will soon disappear; 1
you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone. 2
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
1 tn Heb “and yet, a little, there will be no wicked [one].”
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.
3 tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.
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.
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).
6 tn Or “upright.”
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).