Mazmur 37:20

37:20 But ¹  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ²  –

they will go up in smoke. ³ 

Mazmur 37:24

37:24 Even if ⁴  he trips, he will not fall headlong, ⁵ 

for the Lord holds ⁶  his hand.

Mazmur 37:35-38

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ⁷ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ⁸ 

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! ⁹ 

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

37:37 Take note of the one who has integrity! Observe the godly! ¹⁰ 

For the one who promotes peace has a future. ¹¹ 

37:38 Sinful rebels are totally destroyed; ¹² 

evil men have no future. ¹³ 

Mazmur 55:23

55:23 But you, O God, will bring them ¹⁴  down to the deep Pit. ¹⁵ 

Violent and deceitful people ¹⁶  will not live even half a normal lifespan. ¹⁷ 

But as for me, I trust in you.

Mazmur 92:7

92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,

and all the evildoers glisten, ¹⁸ 

it is so that they may be annihilated. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 94:23

94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. ²⁰ 

He will destroy them because of ²¹  their evil;

the Lord our God will destroy them.

Mazmur 94:2

94:2 Rise up, O judge of the earth!

Pay back the proud!

Mazmur 1:1

Book 1
(Psalms 1-41)

Psalm 1 ²² 

1:1 How blessed ²³  is the one ²⁴  who does not follow ²⁵  the advice ²⁶  of the wicked, ²⁷ 

or stand in the pathway ²⁸  with sinners,

or sit in the assembly ²⁹  of scoffers! ³⁰ 

[37:20]  ¹ tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כי in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).

[37:20]  ² tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) at the end of the first word in the sequence.

[37:20]  ³ tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.

[37:24]  ⁴ tn Other translation options for כִּי in this context are “when” (so NASB) or “though” (so NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[37:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “be hurled down.”

[37:24]  ⁶ tn The active participle indicates this is characteristically true. See v. 17.

[37:35]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ⁸ 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.

[37:36]  ⁹ 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).

[37:37]  ¹⁰ tn Or “upright.”

[37:37]  ¹¹ 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).

[37:38]  ¹² tn Or “destroyed together.” In this case the psalmist pictures judgment sweeping them away as a group.

[37:38]  ¹³ tn 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.

[55:23]  ¹⁴ tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).

[55:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).

[55:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”

[55:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”

[92:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “flourish.”

[92:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”

[92:7]  sn God allows the wicked to prosper temporarily so that he might reveal his justice. When the wicked are annihilated, God demonstrates that wickedness does not pay off.

[94:23]  ²⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.

[94:23]  ²¹ tn Or “in.”

[1:1]  ²² sn Psalm 1. In this wisdom psalm the author advises his audience to reject the lifestyle of the wicked and to be loyal to God. The psalmist contrasts the destiny of the wicked with that of the righteous, emphasizing that the wicked are eventually destroyed while the godly prosper under the Lord’s protective care.

[1:1]  ²³ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see v. 3; Pss 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” (Generic “he” is employed in vv. 2-3). Since the godly man described in the psalm is representative of followers of God (note the plural form צַדִּיקִים [tsadiqim, “righteous, godly”] in vv. 5-6), one could translate the collective singular with the plural “those” both here and in vv. 2-3, where singular pronouns and verbal forms are utilized in the Hebrew text (cf. NRSV). However, here the singular form may emphasize that godly individuals are usually outnumbered by the wicked. Retaining the singular allows the translation to retain this emphasis.

[1:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “walk in.” The three perfect verbal forms in v. 1 refer in this context to characteristic behavior. The sequence “walk–stand–sit” envisions a progression from relatively casual association with the wicked to complete identification with them.

[1:1]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew noun translated “advice” most often refers to the “counsel” or “advice” one receives from others. To “walk in the advice of the wicked” means to allow their evil advice to impact and determine one’s behavior.

[1:1]  ²⁷ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21).

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn “Pathway” here refers to the lifestyle of sinners. To “stand in the pathway of/with sinners” means to closely associate with them in their sinful behavior.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Here the Hebrew term מוֹשַׁב (moshav), although often translated “seat” (cf. NEB, NIV), appears to refer to the whole assembly of evildoers. The word also carries the semantic nuance “assembly” in Ps 107:32, where it is in synonymous parallelism with קָהָל (qahal, “assembly”).

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew word refers to arrogant individuals (Prov 21:24) who love conflict (Prov 22:10) and vociferously reject wisdom and correction (Prov 1:22; 9:7-8; 13:1; 15:12). To “sit in the assembly” of such people means to completely identify with them in their proud, sinful plans and behavior.