Mazmur 9:19

9:19 Rise up, Lord! ¹ 

Don’t let men be defiant! ² 

May the nations be judged in your presence!

Mazmur 37:1-4

Psalm 37 ³ 

By David.

37:1 Do not fret ⁴  when wicked men seem to succeed! ⁵ 

Do not envy evildoers!

37:2 For they will quickly dry up like grass,

and wither away like plants. ⁶ 

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ⁷ 

37:4 Then you will take delight in the Lord, ⁸ 

and he will answer your prayers. ⁹ 

Amsal 24:14

24:14 Likewise, know ¹⁰  that wisdom is sweet ¹¹  to your soul;

if you find it, ¹²  you will have a future, ¹³ 

and your hope will not be cut off.

Amsal 24:19-20

24:19 Do not fret because of evil people

or be envious of wicked people,

24:20 for the evil person has no future, ¹⁴ 

and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. ¹⁵ 

[9:19]  ¹ sn Rise up, Lord! …May the nations be judged. The psalm concludes with a petition that the Lord would continue to exercise his justice as he has done in the recent crisis.

[9:19]  ² tn Or “prevail.”

[37:1]  ³ 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.

[37:1]  ⁴ 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.

[37:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “over sinners.” The context indicates that the psalmist has in mind the apparent power and success of sinners. See v. 7b.

[37:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “like green vegetation.”

[37:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.

[37:4]  ⁸ tn Following the imperatives of v. 3 the prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) in v. 4 indicate result. Faith and obedience (v. 3) will bring divine blessing (v. 4).

[37:4]  ⁹ tn Or “and he will give you what you desire most.” Heb “and he will grant to you the requests of your heart.”

[24:14]  ¹⁰ tn D. W. Thomas argues for a meaning of “seek” in place of “know” (“Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” JTS 38 [1937]: 400-403).

[24:14]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “is sweet” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[24:14]  ¹² tn The term “it” is supplied in the translation.

[24:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “there will be an end.” The word is אַחֲרִית (’akhrit, “after-part, end”). BDB 31 s.v. b says in a passage like this it means “a future,” i.e., a happy close of life, sometimes suggesting the idea of posterity promised to the righteous, often parallel to “hope.”

[24:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “there is no end [i.e., future] for the evil.”

[24:20]  ¹⁵ sn The saying warns against envying the wicked; v. 19 provides the instruction, and v. 20 the motivation. The motivation is that there is no future hope for them – nothing to envy, or as C. H. Toy explains, there will be no good outcome for their lives (Proverbs [ICC], 449). They will die suddenly, as the implied comparison with the lamp being snuffed out signifies.