Psalms 37:10

Psa 37:10 For yet a little while, and the wicked [shall] not [be]: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it [shall] not [be].

Ver. 10. For yet a little while and the wicked, &c.] Tantillum, tantillum, adhuc pauxillum; wait, therefore, and fret not. See Psa 37:9, the same in effect with this and the next; for more certainty of the matter, and to correct our short spiritedness, who would have things done straight upon it or not at all.

Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place] There is neither root nor branch to be found, tale nor tidings to be heard of him, he is utterly vanished, and banished out of the world.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_37:10-11

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

But the meek shall inherit the earth.

The character and blessedness of the meek

I. The nature of christian meekness. It stands opposed to--

1. Hastiness and violence of temper.

2. That of the haughty and vindictive.

3. That which is positive, dogmatical and unteachable.

II. What is declared concerning such characters. Whatever opinion the world may form of them, they are highly privileged and blessed. They shall possess the earth, and be refreshed, nay, even delight themselves in the multitude or abundance, of peace. They may not have the largest share of earthly good things; but they are the men who will ever have the purest and most proper enjoyment of what God has allotted them. In this view, better is a little that the righteous hath, than great riches of the ungodly. But the meek-spirited are here represented as not only possessing tranquillity or peace, but the multitude, the abundance thereof; and as being not only refreshed, but delighted therein. Gracious tempers, the fruits of the Spirit, are conducive to present felicity as well as preparatives for future glory: there is both peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. (S. Knight, M. A.)

Christian meekness

Is it to the future only, or also to the present, that such a promise as this may be said to have respect? We believe assuredly that it relates to both. There is a large and beautiful sense in which the meek do already inherit the earth. But there is something too expansive in the words to allow of our supposing the present to be their perfect fulfilment. From the very character which they hear, the meek for the most part are trampled on and oppressed; so that in place of being given over to their sway, the earth is most commonly wrenched from their possession. But if the promise mark out to us a season when the rebellious shall have been swept from the globe, when the saints of every generation shall assemble from the sepulchres, and shall reign with their Lord over a renovated world, then indeed, we may literally maintain--Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. First of all, who are the meek? We go to Christ for a description of meekness, and we gather that we should be forbearing, forgiving, patient under injuries and contradiction. But distinguish between that meekness which may be only the effect of constitution, and another which is the clear produce of grace. Natural virtues belong only to mans animal soul, and must not be confounded with the properties and virtues over which death has no power. With many men there is so much amiableness of temper that though strangers altogether to religion, they deserve to be called meek in the common acceptation of the term. In many cases, this constitutional meekness, if rigidly examined, will be found to spring from a love of ease; at all events, it is a mere quality of the animal soul, and ought not to be substituted for that holy meekness which Jesus exhibited. Christian meekness is in the largest sense compatible with Christian boldness, so that he who will submit to taunts and injuries, and give only prayers in return for revilings and wrongs, may yet in the hour of a nations danger, or the Churchs peril, rise up as a hero with the fire in his eye, and nerve in his arm, to stand against a host for his country and his God. Christian meekness must chiefly result, first from a deep sense of our own unworthiness; and, secondly, an earnest love of our fellow-men. He who is humble in the meek consciousness of his own vileness as a sinner, will invariably be averse from all overbearing; and he who is zealous for the well-being of others will forbear and forgive, and keep down resentment, however injurious the conduct of others. Thus, without asserting that meekness is composed of no other ingredients, we think humility and love are amongst its chief. Imagine the case of a man who is all alive to the conviction that he is wholly unworthy the favour of his Maker; and that the blessing cannot be mentioned which he is entitled to claim. Not indeed that every believer is fraught as he ought to be with a conviction like this. But the feeling ought to be paramount, so far as meekness is made up of a sense of unworthiness; and he alone is a meek man to whom every day mercies wear the character of wonders. And inasmuch as the meek man possesses this consciousness, he may justly be said to inherit the earth. He traces a Fathers hand; he reads a Fathers tenderness in the daily allotments of food and clothing and habitation. The earth sends not up the blade of corn which seems not a wonder in his eye, because given to transgressors. The drop of water leaps not from the fountain which sparkles not with prodigy, because intended for the refreshment of those who have sinned against God. A ray of light falls on no human habitation which does not appear as a miracle, because illuminating the dwelling-place of the friendless and the prodigal. Thus the earth will be to the Christian a very different scene from what it is to others. Others possess the earth--the meek inherit the earth. Others move upon its provinces, gather in its productions, and delight in its riches, but they cannot survey it with the feelings of an heir. Glance at the second characteristic or ingredient into which we resolved the meekness of the Christian--earnest love for his fellow-men. And surely in proportion as a man acquires this love he may clearly be said to inherit the earth. In place of being broken into tribes and kindreds, each separated from the rest by its own interests and concerns, the millions of our race become as one vast household, every individual of which is a brother. What then? The spot cannot be found where the meek man being placed shall be quite a stranger. I say you cannot place him where there is no object of his love, none in whose welfare he has no interest. Wherever he journeys he may still be said to be at home. Thus the meek man possesses the earth; nay, rather, inherits the earth. He possesses it by family compact--by the claims and the rights of relationship; and the possession thus obtained is possession by heirship. Only then allow that the meek man must be animated with the love of all men, and you also allow that he turns the whole human population into one household, and that household his own. And if we have thus a home in the earth in its length and breadth, we contend it is fairly and literally made out that the meek man inherits the earth. And assuredly that must be a blessed thing; so that the promise of our text should animate us to the cultivation of Christian meekness. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The protasis in Psa 37:10 is literally: adhuc parum (temporis superest), עוד מעט ו, as e.g., Exo 23:30, and as in a similar connection מעט ו, Job 24:24. והתבּוננתּ also is a protasis with a hypothetical perfect, Ges. ֗155, 4, a. This promise also runs in the mouth of the Preacher on the Mount (Mat 5:5) just as the lxx renders Psa 37:11: οἱ δὲ πρᾳεῖς κληρονομήσουσι γῆν. Meekness, which is content with God, and renounces all earthly stays, will at length become the inheritor of the land, yea of the earth. Whatever God-opposed self-love may amass to itself and may seek to acquire, falls into the hands of the meek as their blessed possession.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

10. (Psa 37:10) And yet a little, i.e. ere long, soon—bear and forbear a little longer—and the wicked is not, or there is no wicked, there is no such person as the wicked man who seemed so prosperous—and thou shalt gaze, or look attentively, upon his place, the place which he now occupies, and it is not, his very place has disappeared—or referring the pronoun to the person, he is not, he is no more. Why then be discomposed, and even tempted into sin, by the sight of what is so soon to vanish?

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He correcteth the impatience of our nature, which cannot abide till the fullness of God’s time be come.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

shall not be--literally, "is not"--is not to be found.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be] A prediction of the destruction of Babylon. This empire was now in its splendour; and the captives lived to see it totally overturned by Cyrus, so that even the shadow of its power did not remain.

Thou shalt diligently consider his place] ואיננו veeynennu, and he is not. The ruler is killed; the city is taken; and the whole empire is overthrown, in one night! And now even the place where Babylon stood cannot be ascertained.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10 Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. This is a confirmation of the preceding verse. It might well have been objected, that the actual state of things in the world is very different from what David here represents it, since the ungodly riot in their pleasures, and the people of God pine away in sickness and poverty. David, therefore, wishing to guard us against a rash and hasty judgment, exhorts us to be quiet for a little while, till the Lord cut off the wicked entirely, and show the efficacy of his grace towards his own people. What he requires then on the part of the true believers is, that in the exercise of their wisdom they should suspend their judgment for a time, and not stop at every trifle, but exercise their thoughts in meditation upon divine providence, until God show out of heaven that the full time is come. Instead, however, of describing them as those who wait upon the Lord, he now speaks of them as the meek; and this he does not without good reason: for unless a man believe that God preserves his own people in a wonderful manner, as if they were like sheep among wolves, he will be always endeavoring to repel force by force. It is hope alone, therefore, which of itself produces meekness; for, by restraining the impetuosity of the flesh, and allaying its vehemence, it trains to equanimity and patience those who submit themselves to God. From this passage it would seem, that Christ has taken that which is written in Matthew 5:5. The word peace is generally employed in the Hebrew to denote the prosperous and happy issue of things; yet another sense will agree better with this place, namely, that while the ungodly shall be agitated with inward trouble, and God shall encompass them on every side with terror, the faithful shall rejoice in the abundance of peace. It is not meant that they are exempted from trouble, but they are sustained by the tranquillity of their minds; so that accounting all the trials which they endure to be only temporary, they now rejoice in hope of the promised rest.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) For yet a little . . .—Better,

For yet a little while, and the wicked is not;

Thou lookest at his place, and he is not;

i.e., he has dropped out of his place in society, his tribe knows him no more.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Cp. Psa_37:36 : Isa_29:20.

his place] His abode. Cp. Job_7:10; Job_8:18; Job_20:9.

and it shall not be] Better, as R.V., and he shall not be.

10, 11. Stanza of Vâv; expanding the preceding verse.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the meek shall inherit the earth,.... See Gill on Psa 37:9; of this character See Gill on Psa 22:26. Our Lord seems to refer to this passage in Mat 5:5;

and shall delight themselves is the abundance of peace; of spiritual peace enjoyed in a way of believing, arising from a comfortable view of interest in the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and of all happiness and prosperity in the kingdom of Christ here on earth, at which time there will be abundance of peace, Psa 72:7; or of eternal peace in the world to come, which will be a state of uninterrupted and unspeakable peace; see Psa 37:37; all which afford inconceivable delight and pleasure; and therefore such have no need to fret and be envious at the fading happiness of wicked men.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be - The thee will soon come when they shall pass away. The language “shall not be” cannot mean that they will cease to exist altogether, for the connection does not demand this interpretation. All that is intended is that they would be no longer on the earth; they would no longer live to give occasion for anxious thoughts and troubled feelings in the hearts of good people.

Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place - The place where he lived; the house in which he dwelt; the office which he filled; the grounds which he cultivated.

And it shall not be - Or rather, perhaps, as in the former member of the verse, “he is not.” That is, you will not see him there. His seat at the table is vacant; he is seen no more riding over his grounds; he is no more in the social circle where he found his pleasure, or in the place of business or of revelry: you are impressed with the feeling that “he is gone.” You look where he was, but he is not there; you visit every place where you have been accustomed to see him, “but he is gone.” Alas! where has he gone? Compare Job 14:10.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Their time and prosperity is very short, and therefore no matter of envy.

Shall not be, to wit, in the land of the living. He shall be dead and gone, as this phrase is commonly taken.

Diligently consider his place; industriously seeking to find him.

It shall not be, i.e. his place, and estate, and glory shall be gone. Or, he shall not be, as before.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. When bad men reach to greatness, the judgments of God frequently sweep them away; their riches melt, their power decays, their happiness turns to wretchedness; they themselves cease any longer to be numbered with the living. The shortness of life makes us see that the glitter of the wicked great is not true gold. O wherefore, tried believer, dost thou envy one who in a little while will lie lower than the dust? Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. His house shall be empty, his chair of office vacant, his estate without an owner; he shall be utterly blotted out, perhaps cut off by his own debauchery, or brought to a deathbed of penury by his own extravagance. Gone like a passing cloudforgotten as a dream where are his boastings and hectorings, and where the pomp which made poor mortals think the sinner blest?

Ver. 10. Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. To wit, because he shall be grubbed up by the roots. Arthur Jackson.

Ver. 10. His place...shall not be. The very land he occupied as a home, and the title to which was unimpeachable, is no longer his place. It has passed into other hands. Nothing of all he had on earth is his. He is as poor as the most miserable object that subsisted on alms. William S. Plumer.

Ver. 10. The peacock, a glorious fowl, when he beholds that comely fan and circle which he maketh of the beautiful feathers of his tail, he rejoiceth, he setteth, and beholdeth every part thereof: but when he looketh on his feet, which he perceiveth to be black and foul, he by and by, with great misliking, vails his top gallant, and seemeth to sorrow. In like manner, a great many know by experience, that when they see themselves to abound in riches and honours, they glory and are deeply conceited of themselves; they praise their fortune, and admire themselves; they make plots, and appoint much for themselves to perform in many years to come. This year, they say, we will bear this office, and the next year that; afterward we shall have the rule of such a province; then we will build a palace in such a city, whereunto we will adjoin such gardens of pleasure, and such vineyards: and thus they make a very large reckoning aforehand, who if they did but once behold their feet, if they did but think upon the shortness of their life, so transitory and inconstant; how soon would they let fall their proud feathers, forsake their arrogancy, and change their purpose, their minds, their lives, and their manners. Thomas Tymme.

Ver. 10.

1. Consider what the departed sinner has left. Possessions, joys, honours, aims, hopes, etc.

2. Consider where he has gone.

3. Consider whether you will share the same lot.

Ver. 10-11. Terror to the wicked: comfort for believers. A. Farindon.

Psalms 37:11*

Ver. 10-11. Terror to the wicked: comfort to believers. A. Farindon.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. The wicked… his place—Both the “wicked” and his “place” of abode shall be obliterated from the earth. This does not teach the annihilation of the wicked. The antithesis does not lie between existence and non-existence, but between the triumph of the wicked and that of the righteous, the one being but brief, the other abiding.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be (compare the comment on ver. 2). Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be; or, he shall not be. He shall have been swept away; his "place shall know him no more". (Psa_103:16)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not be - He shall be dead and gone. Diligently - Industriously seeking him. His place - His place and estate, and glory.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A short while longer When you wait a little longer, you will see that the wicked man is not here.

and you shall look at his place and you shall look at the place where he was, and he is not there, because he has died and has perished.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.