Psalm 37:2-13

2 In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

3 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last.

4 Keep company with God, get in on the best.

5 Open up before God, keep nothing back; he'll do whatever needs to be done:

6 He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.

7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.

8 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes - it only makes things worse.

9 Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store.

10 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you'll stare at his once famous place and - nothing!

11 Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza.

12 Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in.

13 But God isn't losing any sleep; to him they're a joke with no punch line.

Psalm 37:2-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 37

\\<<[A Psalm] of David>>\\. This psalm, it is very probable, was written at the same time, and upon the same occasion, with the former; and describes the different states of good and bad men; and is full of exhortations, instructions, and advice to the people of God; intermixed with various encouraging promises. A late learned writer {h} thinks it was written for Mephibosheth's consolation under Ziba's calumny. {h} Delaney's Life of King David, vol. 2. p. 219.