Psalms 37:34-38

37:34 Rely¹ on the Lord! Obey his commands!²

Then he will permit you³ to possess the land;

you will see the demise of evil men.⁴

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men⁵

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

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared!⁷

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

37:37 Take note of the one who has integrity! Observe the godly!⁸

For the one who promotes peace has a future.⁹

37:38 Sinful rebels are totally destroyed;¹⁰

evil men have no future.¹¹

¹tn Or “wait.”

²tn Heb “keep his way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

³tn Heb “and he will lift you up.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) is best taken here as a result clause following the imperatives in the preceding lines.

⁴tn Heb “when evil men are cut off you will see.”

⁵tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

⁶tn 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.

⁷tn 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).

⁸tn Or “upright.”

⁹tn 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).

¹⁰tn Or “destroyed together.” In this case the psalmist pictures judgment sweeping them away as a group.

¹¹tn 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.