Psalm 37:36

36 but later I passed by, and he wasn't there; I looked for him, but couldn't find him.

Psalm 37:36 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 37:36

Yet he passed away
At once, on a sudden; either his riches and honour, which, in one hour, came to nought, by one providence or another; or he himself by death; in the midst of all his prosperity, and while blessing himself in it, his soul was required of him; and so the Targum is, "he ceased from the world"; he went out of it unawares: the laurel, or bay tree, very quickly grows old ^F4;

and, lo, he [was] not;
he was not reduced to nothing; he did not become a nonentity, though he might wish himself to be so; it being better for him if he had never been born; but he was not in the land of the living, in hell he lifted up his eyes;

yea, I sought him, but he could not be found;
in the place where he formerly was, that knowing him no more; he could not be found on earth, from whence he was gone; nor in heaven, where no place is found for such wicked men; he was gone to his own place, as is said of Judas, and of whom Jerom interprets the whole of this passage.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 "Senescit velociter", Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 44.

Psalm 37:36 In-Context

34 Put your hope in the Lord and obey his commands; he will honor you by giving you the land, and you will see the wicked driven out.

35 I once knew someone wicked who was a tyrant; he towered over everyone like a cedar of Lebanon;

36 but later I passed by, and he wasn't there; I looked for him, but couldn't find him.

37 Notice good people, observe the righteous; peaceful people have descendants,

38 but sinners are completely destroyed, and their descendants are wiped out.

Footnotes

• [a] [Some ancient translations] I; [Hebrew] he.