Psalms 34:21
in Psalms 34Evil will slay the wicked, and the haters of the righteous will be condemned.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Evil shall slay the wicked; And they that hate the righteous shall be condemned.
KJV
Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
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This verse in Psalms 34
Commentary
12 notes on this verseEvil shall slay the wicked. Their adversaries shall be killing; they are not medicine, but poison. Ungodly men only need rope enough and they will hang themselves; their own iniquities shall be their punishment. Hell itself is but evil fully developed, torturing those in whom it dwells. Oh! happy they who have fled to Jesus to find refuge from their former sins, such, and such only will escape. And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. They hated the best of company, and they shall have none; they shall be forsaken, despoiled, wretched, despairing.
This site's exposition
Many are the afflictions
on Psalms 34:19-22
Verse 19 grants many afflictions to the righteous and promises deliverance out of all of them. John 19:36 quotes verse 20 at the cross as Not one of His bones will be broken. The Passover law at Exodus 12:46 forbids breaking the lamb's bones.
This site's exposition
Evil will slay the wicked
The evil a man practises turns on him. Albert Barnes saw the ruin as the natural fruit of sin, and Adam Clarke said the thing the wicked delight in becomes their bane. Matthew Henry read condemned as held guilty and forsaken for ever.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"The death of sinners is the worst" [Psalm 34:21]. Attend, Brethren, for the sake of those things which I said. Truly Great is the Lord, and His Mercy, truly Great is He who gave to us to eat His Body, wherein He suffered such great things, and His Blood to drink. How regards He them that think evil and say, "Such an one died ill, by beasts was he devoured: he was not a righteous man, therefore he perished ill; for else would he not have perished." Is he then righteous who dies in his own house and in his own bed? This then (do you say) it is whereat I wonder; because I know the sins and the crimes of this same man, and yet he died well; in his own house, within his own doors, with no injury of travel, with none even in mature age. Hearken, "The death of sinners is worst." What seems to you a good death, is worst if you could see within. You see him outwardly lying on his bed, do you see him inwardly carried to hell? Hearken, Brethren, and learn from the Gospel what is the "worst death" of sinners. Were there not two in that age, a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; another a poor man who lay at his door full of sores, and the dogs came and licked his sores, and he desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table? Now it came to pass that the poor man died (righteous was that poor man), and was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom. He who saw his body lying at the rich man's door, and no man to bury it, what haply said he? So die he who is my enemy; and whoever persecutes me, so may I see him. His body is accursed with spitting, his wounds stink; and yet in Abraham's bosom he rests. [Luke 16:19-22] If we are Christians, let us believe: if we believe not, Brethren, let none feign himself a Christian. Faith brings us to the end. As the Lord spoke these things, so are they. […]
Not only do sinners meet such a fate, but also those hostile to the righteous will fall foul of troubles. Now, he says this to bring out the extent of the providence that God shows for the righteous. "Will come to grief" means that they …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, "The death of sinners," he presents the effects of divine providence with regard to the wicked. And concerning this he does two things. First, the dangers of the wicked are presented. Second, it is shown how God delivers his saints from …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Those that are wicked themselves often hate the righteous, name and thing, have an implacable enmity to them and their righteousness; but they shall be desolate, shall be condemned as guilty, and laid waste for ever, shall be for ever forsaken and abandoned of God and all good angels and men; and those that are so are desolate indeed.
Their death shall be miserable; and so it will certainly be, though they die on a bed of down or on the bed of honour. Death, to them, has a curse in it, and is the king of terrors; to them it is evil, only evil. It is very well observed by Dr. Hammond that the evil here, which slays the wicked, is the same word, in the singular number, that is used (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) and they are continually aiming to do them a mischief; their God loves them, and therefore corrects them; so that, between the mercy of heaven and the malice of hell, the afflictions of the righteous must needs be many. [2.] God has engaged for their deliverance and salvation: He delivers them out of all their troubles (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Evil shall slay the wicked,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Evil shall slay the wicked - The very thing in which they delight shall become their bane and their ruin. They that hate the righteous - All persecutors of God’s people shall be followed by the chilling blast of God’s displeasure in this world; and if they repent not, shall perish everlastingly.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Evil shall slay the wicked - That is, his own wicked conduct will be the cause of his destruction. His ruin is not arbitrary, or the mere result of a divine appointment; it is caused by sin, and is the regular and natural consequence of guilt. In the destruction of the sinner, there will not be any one thing which cannot be explained by the supposition that it is the regular effect of sin, or what sin is, in its own nature, suited to produce. The one will measure the other; guilt will be the measure of all that there is in the punishment. And they that hate the righteous - Another term for the wicked, or a term designating the character of the wicked in one aspect or view. It is true of all the wicked that they must hate the righteous in their hearts, or that they are so opposed to the character of the righteous that it is proper to designate this feeling as “hatred.” Shall be desolate - Margin, “shall be guilty.” Prof. Alexander and Hengstenberg render this, as in the margin, “shall be guilty.” DeWette, “shall repent.” Rosenmuller, “shall be condemned.” The original word - אשׁם 'âsham - means properly to fail in duty, to transgress, to be guilty. The primary idea, says Gesenius (Lexicon), is that of “negligence,” especially in going, or in gait, as of a camel that is slow or faltering. Then the word means to be held or treated as faulty or guilty; and then, to bear the consequences of guilt, or to be punished. This seems to be the idea here. The word is sometimes synonymous with another Hebrew word - ישׁם yâsham - meaning to be desolate; to be destroyed; to be laid waste: Eze 6:6; Joe 1:18; Psa 5:10. But the usual meaning of the word is undoubtedly retained here, as signifying that, in the dealings of Providence, or in the administering of divine government, such men will be held to be guilty, and will be treated accordingly; that is, that they will be punished.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּמוֹתֵ֣ת | temotet | it will kill | H4191 → | 839 times |
| רָשָׁ֣ע | rasha' | [the] wicked | H7563 → | 263 times |
| רָעָ֑ה | raah | evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| וְשֹׂנְאֵ֖י | vesoneei | and [those who] hate | H8130 → | 146 times |
| צַדִּ֣יק | tzadik | <of> [the] righteous | H6662 → | 206 times |
| יֶאְשָֽׁמוּ׃ | ye'shamu | they will be held guilty | H816 → | 35 times |
תְּמוֹתֵ֣תit will kill
temotetH4191 →839 times
רָשָׁ֣ע[the] wicked
rasha'H7563 →263 times
רָעָ֑הevil
raahH7451 →662 times
וְשֹׂנְאֵ֖יand [those who] hate
vesoneeiH8130 →146 times
צַדִּ֣יק<of> [the] righteous
tzadikH6662 →206 times
יֶאְשָֽׁמוּ׃they will be held guilty
ye'shamuH816 →35 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
Proverbs 24:16For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
- Psalms 37:24
Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.
- Micah 7:8–10
Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
- Job 5:19
He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.
- 2 Corinthians 4:8–12
We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
- Psalms 34:19
Through
2 Thessalonians 1:9They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,
it leads to
- Matthew 25:41
Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
- Matthew 25:41
Through
Isaiah 3:11Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 8:13
Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13
Through
Psalms 94:23He will bring upon them their own iniquity and destroy them for their wickedness. The LORD our God will destroy them.
it leads to
- Psalms 7:16
His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.
- Psalms 7:16
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 34; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 34:22B and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.