He Will Not Forsake His Saints
37:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet Of David.
1 ver. 7, 8;Prov. 24:19Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not Ps. 73:3;Prov. 3:31;23:17;24:1,19envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon Job 14:2;See Job 27:13-23fade like Ps. 90:5,6the grass
and wither Ps. 129:6like the green herb.
3 Ps. 62:8;115:9-11;Prov. 3:5;Isa. 26:4Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Lev. 26:5;Prov. 2:21dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.37:3 Or and feed on faithfulness, or and find safe pasture
4 Job 22:26;Isa. 58:14;[Phil. 3:1;4:4] Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will Matt. 6:33give you the desires of your heart.
5 Ps. 22:8;55:22;Prov. 16:3;1 Pet. 5:7Commit your way to the Lord;
[See ver. 3above]trust in him, and he will act.
6 Isa. 58:8,10;Mic. 7:9He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as Job 11:17the noonday.
7 [Ps. 62:1;Isa. 30:15;Lam. 3:26] Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
ver. 1fret not yourself over the one who Jer. 12:1prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 [Eph. 4:26] Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
[See ver. 7above]Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 ver. 2, 22For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall Ps. 25:13;Prov. 2:21;Isa. 57:13;60:21inherit the land.
10 In Job 24:24just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at Job 7:10his place, he will not be there.
11 But Cited Matt. 5:5the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in Ps. 119:165;[Isa. 32:17]abundant peace.
12 The wicked Ps. 31:13plots against the righteous
and See Ps. 35:16gnashes his teeth at him,
13 but the Lord See Ps. 2:4laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his See Job 18:20day is coming.
14 The wicked draw the sword and Ps. 7:12bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose See Ps. 7:10way is upright;
15 their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their See 1 Sam. 2:4bows shall be broken.
16 Prov. 15:16;16:8;[1 Tim. 6:6]Better is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For Ps. 10:15;Job 38:15;Ezek. 30:21,22the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the Lordver. 24upholds the righteous.
18 The LordSee Ps. 1:6knows the days of the blameless,
and their ver. 9heritage will remain forever;
19 they are not put to shame in evil times;
in Ps. 33:19;Job 5:20the days of famine they have abundance.
20 But the wicked will perish;
the enemies of the Lord are like [Matt. 6:30;James 1:11] the glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like Ps. 68:2;102:3;Hos. 13:3smoke they vanish away.
21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous ver. 26is generous and gives;
22 for those blessed by the Lord37:22 Hebrew by him shall See ver. 9inherit the land,
but those cursed by him ver. 2shall be cut off.
23 The Ps. 25:12;1 Sam. 2:9steps of a man are Ps. 40:2;119:5established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
24 Prov. 24:16;Mic. 7:8;2 Cor. 4:9though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lordver. 17upholds his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children [Ps. 109:10;Job 15:23]begging for bread.
26 He is ever Ps. 112:5,9;Deut. 15:8,10;Matt. 5:42;Luke 6:35lending generously,
and his children become a blessing.
27 See Ps. 34:14Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you [Ps. 102:28]dwell forever.
28 For the LordSee Ps. 11:7loves justice;
he will not forsake his See Ps. 16:10saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be ver. 2, 9;Ps. 21:10;Prov. 2:22;Isa. 14:20cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land
and [See ver. 27above]dwell upon it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
31 Ps. 40:8;119:11;Deut. 6:6;Isa. 51:7;Jer. 31:33;[Rom. 7:22] The law of his God is in his heart;
his [Ps. 73:2]steps do not slip.
32 The wicked Ps. 10:8watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
33 The Lord will not [2 Pet. 2:9] abandon him to his power
or let him Ps. 109:31be condemned when he is brought to trial.
34 ver. 9;See Ps. 27:14Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on Ps. 52:5,6;91:8when the wicked are cut off.
35 See Job 5:3I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like [Ps. 52:8]a green laurel tree.37:35 The identity of this tree is uncertain
36 But he passed away,37:36 Or But one passed by and behold, ver. 10;Job 20:5he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.
37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
for there is a future for the man of ver. 11;Ps. 119:165;Isa. 57:2peace.
38 But [Ps. 52:5;104:35;Prov. 2:22] transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the future of the wicked Ps. 73:17;Job 18:17shall be cut off.
39 See Ps. 3:8The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in Ps. 9:9the time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and [Isa. 31:5;Acts 12:11] delivers them;
[1 Chr. 5:20;Dan. 3:17,28;6:23] he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they See Ps. 11:1take refuge in him.