Psalms 37:2
in Psalms 37For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
KJV
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
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This verse in Psalms 37
Commentary
4 notes on this verseFor they shall soon be cut down like the grass. The scythe of death is sharpening. Green grows the grass, but quick comes the scythe. The destruction of the ungodly will be speedy, sudden, sure, overwhelming, irretrievable. The grass cannot resist or escape the mower. And wither as the green herb. The beauty of the herb dries up at once in the heat of the sun, and so all the glory of the wicked shall disappear at the hour of death. Death kills the ungodly man like grass, and wrath withers him like hay; he dies, and his name rots.
This site's exposition
Do not fret over
on Psalms 37:1-2
Fretting and envy are both forbidden. The Hebrew behind fret means to glow or grow warm, the heat that blazes up into anger. Verse 2 answers with grass and tender plants that wither quickly, the whole span of the wicked man's flourishing.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
on Psalms 37:1-2
Fretfulness and envy are sins that are their own punishments; they are the uneasiness of the spirit and the rottenness of the bones; it is therefore in kindness to ourselves that we are warned against them.
(1.) They will soon wither of themselves. Outward prosperity is a fading thing, and so is the life itself to which it is confined. (2.) They will sooner be cut down by the judgments of God.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Do not compete with the evildoers He reproves Israel that they should not compete with the success of the evildoers to do as their deeds, as (in Jer.:5): “how will you compete (תתחרה) with horses,” to run as they run, a atir in Old French, to compete.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֶ֭חָצִיר | khechatzir | like <the> grass | H2682 → | 21 times |
| מְהֵרָ֣ה | meherah | quickly | H4120 → | 20 times |
| יִמָּ֑לוּ | yimalu | they will wither | H5243 → | |
| וּכְיֶ֥רֶק | ukheyerek | and like [the] greenery of | H3418 → | |
| דֶּ֝֗שֶׁא | deshe' | vegetation | H1877 → | |
| יִבּוֹלֽוּן׃ | yibolun | they will fade ! | H5034 → | 25 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֶ֭חָצִירlike <the> grass
khechatzirH2682 →21 times
מְהֵרָ֣הquickly
meherahH4120 →20 times
יִמָּ֑לוּthey will wither
yimaluH5243 →
וּכְיֶ֥רֶקand like [the] greenery of
ukheyerekH3418 →
דֶּ֝֗שֶׁאvegetation
deshe'H1877 →
יִבּוֹלֽוּן׃they will fade !
yibolunH5034 →25 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 14:2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:24
For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 40:6–8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Psalms 103:15–16
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- 1 Chronicles 29:15
For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- 1 Peter 1:24
Through
Psalms 92:7that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:38
But the transgressors will all be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.
- Psalms 73:18–20
Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
- Psalms 37:1–2
Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
- Psalms 37:38
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.