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Psalms 37:26

in Psalms 37

They are ever generous and quick to lend, and their children are a blessing.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

All the day long he dealeth graciously, and lendeth; And his seed is blessed.

KJV

He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

This verse in Psalms 37

Commentary

12 notes on this verse
(Verse 26.) But how can he be in need who has mercy and lends all day? What is it that the righteous person lends? Not bronze, not iron, not lead, but silver purified by fire. He brings this to the table of the Lord, and distributes it to those who seek it: to one person, to two, to five minas daily he distributes, and it never runs out. But we have heard that lending at interest is condemned in the Law, with Moses saying: You shall not lend at interest (Deuteronomy 23:19).

This site's exposition

The wicked borrow

on Psalms 37:21-26

The wicked borrow and leave the debt, and the righteous are gracious and giving. The LORD orders a man's steps and delights in the way he goes, and the hand holding him keeps a fall from throwing him down. The psalmist, grown old, had never seen the righteous abandoned.

This site's exposition

quick to lend

The Hebrew behind ever is all the day, a settled habit, as Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes both noted. The lender answers the wicked borrower of verse 21. Clarke tied the blessed children to verse 25: they are the reason no child of his begs bread.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 37:62 · Written before 397.

proposed

There is money lent out at interest, and there is money lent in kindness. But the Lord expects a return. Money gets interest paid in cash. The grace of kindness wins an increase of faith. Lend out your faith generously to the Gentiles, and your grace will be multiplied. Do not go about borrowing like a pauper. Act like someone really rich and lend out so as to make great profit. Peter lent; Paul lent; John the Evangelist lent; and certainly they were not in want. What they lent was Christ's money; they were not charging high rates of interest. So lend and do not grow weary.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

ON THE PSALMS - Psalm 37 · Written before 430.

proposed

"He is always merciful, and lendeth." "Foeneratur" is used in Latin indeed, both for him who lendeth, and for him who borroweth. But in this passage the meaning is more plain, if we express it by "foenerat." What matters it to us, what the grammarians please to rule? It were better for us to be guilty of a barbarism, so that ye understand, than that in our propriety of speech ye be left unprovided. Therefore, that "righteous man is all day merciful, and (foenerat) lendeth." Let not the lenders of money on usury, however, rejoice. For we find it is a particular kind of lender that is spoken of, as it was a particular kind of bread; that we may, in all passages, "remove the roof," and find our way to Christ. I would not have you be lenders of money on usury; and I would not have you be such for this reason, because God would not have you. ...Whence does it appear that God would not have it so? It is said in another place, "He that putteth not out his money to usury." And how detestable, odious, and execrable a thing it is, I believe that even usurers themselves know. Again, on the other hand, I myself, nay rather our God Himself bids thee be an usurer, and says to thee, "Lend unto God." If thou lendest to man, hast thou hope? and shalt thou not have hope, if thou lendest to God? If thou hast lent thy money on usury to man, that is, if thou hast given the loan of thy money to one, from whom thou dost expect to receive something more than thou hast given, not in money only, but anything, whether it be wheat, or wine, or oil, or whatever else you please, if you expect to receive more than you have given, you are an usurer, and in this particular are not deserving of praise, but of censure. "What then," you say, "am I to do, that I may 'lend' profitably?" Consider what the usurer does. […]

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Exposition on the Psalms of David · Written before 1274.

proposed

Then when he says, "I was young," he shows by experience that the goods of the just are fruitful, but not those of the wicked. And he sets forth this long experience regarding two things. First, regarding the immunity of the good from evils. Second, …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

He is ever merciful, and lendeth,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 2 (1870)

He is ever merciful, and lendeth. The righteous are constantly under generous impulses; they do not prosper through parsimony, but through bounty. Like the bounteous giver of all good, of whom they are the beloved sons, they delight in doing good. How stingy covetous professors can hope for salvation is a marvel to those who read such verses as this in the Bible. And his seed is blessed. God pays back with interest in the next generation.
4 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century4 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 2 (1870)

proposed

He is ever merciful, and lendeth. The righteous are constantly under generous impulses; they do not prosper through parsimony, but through bounty. Like the bounteous giver of all good, of whom they are the beloved sons, they delight in doing good. How stingy covetous professors can hope for salvation is a marvel to those who read such verses as this in the Bible. And his seed is blessed. God pays back with interest in the next generation. Where the children of the righteous are not godly, there must be some reason for it in parental neglect, or some other guilty cause. The friend of the father is the friend of the family. The God of Abraham is the God of Isaac and of Jacob.

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 2 (1870)

proposed

He is ever merciful, and lendeth. The righteous are constantly under generous impulses; they do not prosper through parsimony, but through bounty. Like the bounteous giver of all good, of whom they are the beloved sons, they delight in doing good. How stingy covetous professors can hope for salvation is a marvel to those who read such verses as this in the Bible. And his seed is blessed. God pays back with interest in the next generation.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

He is ever merciful and lendeth - כל היום חונן kol haiyom chonen, “all the day he is compassionate.” He is confirmed in the habit of godliness: he feels for the distresses of men, and is ready to divide and distribute to all that are in necessity. And his seed is blessed - The preceding words were not spoken casually; his seed, his posterity, is blessed; therefore they are not abandoned to beg their bread.
He is ever merciful - Margin, as in Hebrew, “all the day.” That is, it is his character; he is constantly in the habit of showing kindness. He does not do it at intervals, or only occasionally, but it is this that marks the character of the man. He is known by this. The word “merciful” here means kind, compassionate, benignant - and particularly in this respect, that he is willing to “lend” to others when he has the means. And lendeth - The wicked man “borrows,” but does not pay again Psa 37:21; the righteous man “lends” to his neighbor. And his seed is blessed - His children; his posterity, as the result of this conduct on his part. The effect of what he does passes over from him to them, conveying rich blessings to them.

The words behind it

6 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַ֭יּוֹםthe day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • חוֹנֵ֣ן[he is] showing favor

    chonenH2603 →78 times

  • וּמַלְוֶ֑הand [he is] lending

    umalvehH3867 →26 times

  • וְ֝זַרְע֗וֹand offspring his

    vezaroH2233 →229 times

  • לִבְרָכָֽה׃[become] <into> a blessing

    livrakhahH1293 →69 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Matthew 5:7

    Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 4:32

      Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

    • Matthew 6:14–15

      For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

    • 2 Samuel 22:26

      To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

    • Matthew 18:33–35

      Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’

    • Psalms 18:25

      To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

  • Through

    Jeremiah 32:39

    I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 11:19–20

      And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,

    • Acts 4:32

      The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.

  • Through

    Psalms 112:9

    He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 13:16

      And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

Souvenir of a Meadow at Brunoy. Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, between circa 1855 and circa 1865. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Souvenir of a Meadow at Brunoy. Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, between circa 1855 and circa 1865. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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); Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms; Ambrose of Milan, COMMENTARY ON TWELVE PSALMS 37:62; Augustine of Hippo, ON THE PSALMS - Psalm 37; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.