{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa037.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa037.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa037.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nThe Seeming Prosperity of the Wicked, and the Real Prosperity of the Godly\nThe bond of connection between Psa 36:1-12 and 37 is their similarity of contents, which here and there extends even to accords of expression. The fundamental thought running through the whole Psalm is at once expressed in the opening verses: Do not let the prosperity of the ungodly be a source of vexation to thee, but wait on the Lord; for the prosperity of the ungodly will suddenly come to an end, and the issue determines between the righteous and the unrighteous. Hence Tertullian calls this Psalm providentiae speculum; Isodore, potio contra murmur; and Luther, vestis piorum, cui adscriptum: Hic Sanctorum patientia est (Rev 14:12). This fundamental thought the poet does not expand in strophes of ordinary compass, but in shorter utterances of the proverbial form following the order of the letters of the alphabet, and not without some repetitions and recurrences to a previous thought, in order to impress it still more convincingly and deeply upon the mind. The Psalm belongs therefore to the series Ps 9 and Psa 10:1, Psa 25:1, Psa 34:1, - all alphabetical Psalms of David, of whose language, cheering, high-flown, thoughtful, and at the same time so easy and unartificial, and withal elegant, this Psalm is fully worthy. The structure of the proverbial utterances is almost entirely tetrastichic; though \u05d3, \u05db, and \u05e7 are tristichs, and \u05d7 (which is twice represented, though perhaps unintentionally), \u05e0, and \u05ea are pentastichs. The \u05e2 is apparently wanting; but, on closer inspection, the originally separated strophes \u05e1 and \u05e2 are only run into one another by the division of the verses. The \u05e2 strophe begins with \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, Psa 37:28, and forms a tetrastich, just like the \u05e1. The fact that the preposition \u05dc stands before the letter next in order need not confuse one. The \u05ea, Psa 37:39, also begins with \u05d5\u05ea\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05e2\u05ea. The homogeneous beginnings, \u05d6\u05de\u05dd \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2, \u05dc\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2, \u05e6\u05d5\u05e4\u05d4 \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2, Psa 37:12, Psa 37:21, Psa 37:32, seem, as Hitzig remarks, to be designed to give prominence to the pauses in the succession of the proverbial utterances.\nOlshausen observes, \"The poet keeps entirely to the standpoint of the old Hebrew doctrine of recompense, which the Book of Job so powerfully refutes.\" But, viewed in the light of the final issue, all God's government is really in a word righteous recompense; and the Old Testament theodicy is only inadequate in so far as the future, which adjusts all present inconsistencies, is still veiled. Meanwhile the punitive justice of God does make itself manifest, as a rule, in the case of the ungodly even in the present world; even their dying is usually a fearful end to their life's prosperity. This it is which the poet means here, and which is also expressed by Job himself in the Book of Job, Job 27:1. With \u05d4\u05ea\u05d7\u05e8\u05d4, to grow hot or angry (distinct from \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05e8\u05d4, to emulate, Jer 12:5; Jer 22:15), alternates \u05e7\u05e0\u05bc\u05d0, to get into a glow, excandescentia, whether it be the restrained heat of sullen envy, or the incontrollable heat of impetuous zeal which would gladly call down fire from heaven. This first distich has been transferred to the Book of Proverbs, Pro 24:19, cf. Pro 23:17; Pro 24:1; Pro 3:31; and in general we may remark that this Psalm is one of the Davidic patterns for the Salomonic gnome system. The form \u05d9\u05de\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc is, according to Gesenius, Olshausen, and Hitzig, fut. Kal of \u05de\u05dc\u05dc, cognate \u05d0\u05de\u05dc, they wither away, pausal form for \u05d9\u05de\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc like \u05d9\u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05de\u05d5\u05bc, Psa 102:28; but the signification to cut off also is secured to the verb \u05de\u05dc\u05dc by the Niph. \u05e0\u05de\u05dc, Gen 17:11, whence fut. \u05d9\u05de\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc = \u05d9\u05de\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc; vid., on Job 14:2; Job 18:16. \u05d9\u05e8\u05e7 \u05d3\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d0 is a genitival combination: the green (viror) of young vigorous vegetation.\nThe \"land\" is throughout this Psalm the promised possession (Heilsgut), viz., the land of Jahve's presence, which has not merely a glorious past, but also a future rich in promises; and will finally, ore perfectly than under Joshua, become the inheritance of the true Israel. It is therefore to be explained: enjoy the quiet sure habitation which God gives thee, and diligently cultivate the virtue of faithfulness. The two imperatives in Psa 37:3, since there are two of them (cf. Psa 37:27) and the first is without any conjunctive Waw, have the appearance of being continued admonitions, not promises; and consequently \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d4 is not an adverbial accusative as in Psa 119:75 (Ewald), but the object to \u05e8\u05e2\u05d4, to pasture, to pursue, to practise (Syriac \u05e8\u05d3\u05e3, Hos 12:2); cf. \u05e8\u05e2\u05d4, \u05e8\u05e2, one who interests himself in any one, or anything; Beduin r\u00e2\u201b\u00e2 = \u1e63\u00e2\u1e25b, of every kind of closer relationship (Deutsch. Morgenlnd. Zeitschr. v. 9). In Psa 37:4, \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05df is an apodosis: delight in Jahve (cf. Job 22:26; Psa 27:10; Isa 58:14), so will He grant thee the desire (\u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05d0\u05dc\u05ea, as in Psa 20:5) of thy heart; for he who, entirely severed from the creature, finds his highest delight in God, cannot desire anything that is at enmity with God, but he also can desire nothing that God, with whose will his own is thoroughly blended in love, would refuse him.\nThe lxx erroneously renders \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05dc (= \u05d2\u05bc\u05dc, Psa 22:9) by \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03c5\u03c8\u03bf\u03bd instead of \u1f10\u03c0\u03af\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03b9\u03c8\u03bf\u03bd, Pe1 5:7 : roll the burden of cares of thy life's way upon Jahve, leave the guidance of thy life entirely to Him, and to Him alone, without doing anything in it thyself: He will gloriously accomplish (all that concerns thee): \u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d4, as in Ps 22:32; 52:11; cf. Pro 16:3, and Paul Gerhardt's Befiehl du deine Wege, \"Commit thou all thy ways,\" etc. The perfect in Psa 37:6 is a continuation of the promissory \u05d9\u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05d4. \u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0, as in Jer 51:10, signifies to set forth: He will bring to light thy misjudged righteousness like the light (the sun, Job 31:26; Job 37:21, and more especially the morning sun, Pro 4:18), which breaks through the darkness; and thy down-trodden right (\u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05e4\u05bc\u05d8\u05da is the pausal form of the singular beside Mugrash) like the bright light of the noon-day: cf. Isa 58:10, as on Psa 37:4, Isa 58:14.\nThe verb \u05d3\u05bc\u05de\u05dd, with its derivatives (Psa 62:2, Psa 62:6; Lam 3:28), denotes resignation, i.e., a quiet of mind which rests on God, renounces all self-help, and submits to the will of God. \u05d4\u05ea\u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05dc (from \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc, to be in a state of tension, to wait) of the inward gathering of one's self together in hope intently directed towards God, as in B. Berachoth 30b is a synonym of \u05d4\u05ea\u05d7\u05d5\u05e0\u05df, and as it were reflexive of \u05d7\u05dc\u05bc\u05d4 of the collecting one's self to importunate prayer. With Psa 37:7 the primary tone of the whole Psalm is struck anew. On Psa 37:7 compare the definition of the mischief-maker in Pro 24:8.\nOn \u05d4\u05e8\u05e3 (let alone), imper. apoc. Hiph., instead of \u05d4\u05e8\u05e4\u05bc\u05d4, vid., Ges. \u059775, rem. 15. \u05d0\u05da \u05dc\u05d4\u05e8\u05e2 is a clause to itself (cf. Pro 11:24; Psa 21:5; Psa 22:16): it tends only to evil-doing, it ends only in thy involving thyself in sin. The final issue, without any need that thou shouldst turn sullen, is that the \u05de\u05e8\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd, like to whom thou dost make thyself by such passionate murmuring and displeasure, will be cut off, and they who, turning from the troublous present, make Jahve the ground and aim of their hope, shall inherit the land (vid., Psa 25:13). It is the end, the final and consequently eternal end, that decides the matter.\nThe protasis in Psa 37:10 is literally: adhuc parum (temporis superest), \u05e2\u05d5\u05d3 \u05de\u05e2\u05d8 \u05d5, as e.g., Exo 23:30, and as in a similar connection \u05de\u05e2\u05d8 \u05d5, Job 24:24. \u05d5\u05d4\u05ea\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05e0\u05e0\u05ea\u05bc also is a protasis with a hypothetical perfect, Ges. \u0597155, 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: \u03bf\u1f31 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c0\u03c1\u1fb3\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03bd. 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.\nThe verb \u05d6\u05de\u05dd is construed with \u05dc of that which is the object at which the evil devices aim. To gnash the teeth (elsewhere also: with the teeth) is, as in Psa 35:16, cf. Job 16:9, a gesture of anger, not of mockery, although anger and mockery are usually found together. But the Lord, who regards an assault upon the righteous as an assault upon Himself, laughs (Psa 2:4) at the enraged schemer; for He, who orders the destinies of men, sees beforehand, with His omniscient insight into the future, his day, i.e., the day of his death (Sa1 26:10), of his visitation (Psa 137:7, Oba 1:12, Jer 50:27, Jer 50:31).\nThat which corresponds to the \"treading\" or stringing of the bow is the drawing from the sheath or unsheathing of the sword: \u05e4\u05bc\u05ea\u05d7, Eze 21:28, cf. Psa 55:22. The combination \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8\u05d9\u05be\u05d3\u05bc\u05e8\u05da is just like \u05ea\u05de\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05be\u05d3\u05d5\u05da, Psa 119:1. The emphasis in Psa 37:14 is upon the suffix of \u05d1\u05dc\u05d1\u05bc\u05dd: they shall perish by their own weapon. \u05e7\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05ea\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd has (in Baer) a Sheb\u05d2 dirimens, as also in Isa 5:28 in correct texts.\nWith Psa 37:16 accord Pro 15:16; Pro 16:8, cf. Tobit 12:8. The \u05dc of \u05dc\u05e6\u05bc\u05d3\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7 is a periphrastic indication of the genitive (Ges. 115). \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05df is a noisy multitude, here used of earthly possessions. \u05e8\u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd is not per attract. (cf. Psa 38:11, \u05d4\u05dd for \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0) equivalent to \u05e8\u05d1, but the one righteous man is contrasted with many unrighteous. The arms are here named instead of the bow in Psa 37:15. He whose arms are broken can neither injure others nor help himself. Whereas Jahve does for the righteous what earthly wealth and human power cannot do: He Himself upholds them.\nThe life of those who love Jahve with the whole heart is, with all its vicissitudes, an object of His loving regard and of His observant providential care, Psa 1:6; Psa 31:8, cf. Psa 16:1-11. He neither suffers His own to lose their heritage nor to be themselves lost to it. The \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ba\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03af\u03b1 is not as yet thought of as extending into the future world, as in the New Testament. In Psa 37:19 the surviving refers only to this present life.\nWith \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 the preceding assertion is confirmed by its opposite (cf. Psa 130:4). \u05db\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd forms a fine play in sound; \u05d9\u05e7\u05e8 is a substantivized adjective like \u05d2\u05bc\u05d3\u05dc ekil evitcejda, Exo 15:16. Instead of \u05d1\u05e2\u05e9\u05c1\u05df, it is not to be read \u05db\u05bc\u05e2\u05e9\u05c1\u05df, Hos 13:3; the \u05d1 is secured by Psa 102:4; Psa 78:33. The idea is, that they vanish into smoke, i.e., are resolved into it, or also, that they vanish in the manner of smoke, which is first thick, but then becomes thinner and thinner till it disappears (Rosenmller, Hupfeld, Hitzig); both expressions are admissible as to fact and as to the language, and the latter is commended by \u05d1\u05bc\u05d4\u05d1\u05dc, Psa 78:33, cf. \u05d1\u05bc\u05e6\u05dc\u05dd, Psa 39:7. \u05d1\u05e2\u05e9\u05c1\u05df belongs to the first, regularly accented \u05db\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc; for the Munach by \u05d1\u05e2\u05e9\u05c2\u05df is the substitute for Mugrash, which never can be used where at least two syllables do not precede the Silluk tone (vid., Psalter ii. 503). The second \u05db\u05bc\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc has the accent on the penult. for a change (Ew. 194, c), i.e., variation of the rhythm (cf. \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05de\u05d4, Psa 42:10; Psa 43:2; \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9, Jdg 5:12, and on Psa 137:7), and in particular here on account of its pausal position (cf. \u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc, Psa 137:7).\nIt is the promise expressed in Deu 15:6; Deu 28:12, Deu 28:44, which is rendered in Psa 37:21 in the more universal, sententious form. \u05dc\u05d5\u05d4 signifies to be bound or under obligation to any one = to borrow and to owe (nexum esse). The confirmation of Psa 37:22 is not inappropriate (as Hitzig considers it, who places Psa 37:22 after Psa 37:20): in that ever deeper downfall of the ungodly, and in that charitableness of the righteous, which becomes more and more easy to him by reason of his prosperity, the curse and blessing of God, which shall be revealed in the end of the earthly lot of both the righteous and the ungodly, are even now foretold. Whilst those who reject the blessing of God are cut off, the promise given to the patriarchs is fulfilled in the experience of those who are blessed of God, in all its fulness.\nBy Jahve (\u05de\u05df, \u1f00\u03c0\u03cc, almost equivalent to \u1f51\u03c0\u03cc with the passive, as in Job 24:1; Ecc 12:11, and in a few other passages) are a man's steps made firm, established; not: ordered or directed (lxx, Jerome, \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5\u03c5\u03b8\u03cd\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9), which, according to the extant usage of the language, would be \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc (passive of \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05df, Pro 16:9; Jer 10:23; Ch2 27:6), whereas \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05e0\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc, the Pulal of \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05e0\u05df, is to be understood according to Psa 40:3. By \u05d2\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8 is meant man in an emphatic sense (Job 38:3), and in fact in an ethical sense; compare, on the other hand, the expression of the more general saying, \"Man proposes, and God disposes,\" Pro 16:9; Pro 20:24; Jer 10:23. Psa 37:23 shows that it is the upright man that is meant in Psa 37:23: to the way, i.e., course of life, of such an one God turns with pleasure (\u05d9\u05d7\u05e4\u05bc\u05e5 pausal change of vowel for \u05d9\u05d7\u05e4\u05bc\u05e5): supposing he should fall, whether it be a fall arising from misfortune or from error, or both together, he is not prostrated, but Jahve upholds his hand, affords it a firm point of support or fulcrum (cf. \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05da \u05d1\u05bc, Psa 63:9, and frequently), so that he can raise himself again, rise up again.\nThere is an old theological rule: promissiones corporales intelligendae sunt cum exceptione crucis et castigationis. Temporary forsakenness and destitution the Psalm does not deny: it is indeed even intended to meet the conflict of doubt which springs up in the minds of the God-fearing out of certain conditions and circumstances that are seemingly contradictory to the justice of God; and this it does, by contrasting that which in the end abides with that which is transitory, and in fact without the knowledge of any final decisive adjustment in a future world; and it only solves its problem, in so far as it is placed in the light of the New Testament, which already dawns in the Book of Ecclesiastes.\nThe round of the exhortations and promises is here again reached as in Psa 37:3. The imperative \u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05df, which is there hortatory, is found here with the \u05d5 of sequence in the sense of a promise: and continue, doing such things, to dwell for ever = so shalt thou, etc. (\u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05df, pregnant as in Ps 102:29, Isa 57:15). Nevertheless the imperative retains its meaning even in such instances, inasmuch as the exhortation is given to share in the reward of duty at the same time with the discharge of it. On Psa 37:28 compare Psa 33:5.\nThe division of the verse is wrong; for the \u05e1 strophe, without any doubt, closes with \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u05d9\u05d5, and the \u05e2 eht dna strophe begins with \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, so that, according to the text which we possess, the \u05e2 of this word is the acrostic letter. The lxx, however, after \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b1\u1f30\u1ff6\u03bd\u03b1 \u03c6\u03c5\u03bb\u03b1\u03c7\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 has another line, which suggests another commencement for the \u05e2 strophe, and runs in Cod. Vat., incorrectly, \u1f04\u03bc\u03c9\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f10\u03ba\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, in Cod. Alex., correctly, \u1f04\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f10\u03ba\u03b4\u03b9\u03c9\u03c7\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 (Symmachus, \u1f04\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f10\u03be\u03b1\u03c1\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9). By \u1f04\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 the lxx translates \u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05e5 in Isa 29:20; by \u1f04\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1, \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 in Job 27:4; and by \u1f10\u03ba\u03b4\u03b9\u03ce\u03ba\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, \u05d4\u05e6\u05de\u05d9\u05ea, the synonym of \u05d4\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d9\u05d3, in Psa 101:5; so that consequently this line, as even Venema and Schleusner have discerned, was \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc. It will at once be seen that this is only another reading for \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e8\u05d5; and, since it stands side by side with the latter, that it is an ancient attempt to produce a correct beginning for the \u05e2 strophe, which has been transplanted from the lxx into the text. It is, however, questionable whether this reparation is really a restoration of the original words (Hupfeld, Hitzig); since \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc (\u05e2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc) is not a word found in the Psalms (for which reason B\u05e6ttcher's conjecture of \u05e2\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 more readily commends itself, although it is critically less probable), and \u05dc\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e8\u05d5 forms a continuation that is more naturally brought about by the context and perfectly logical.\nThe verb \u05d4\u05d2\u05d4 unites in itself the two meanings of meditating and of meditative utterance (vid., Psa 2:1), just as \u05d0\u05de\u05e8 those of thinking and speaking. Psa 37:31 in this connection affirms the stability of the moral nature. The walk of the righteous has a fixed inward rule, for the T\u05e4ra is to him not merely an external object of knowledge and a compulsory precept; it is in his heart, and, because it is the T\u05e4ra of his God whom he loves, as the motive of his actions closely united with his own will. On \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05e2\u05d3, followed by the subject in the plural, compare Psa 18:35; Psa 73:2 Cheth\u05deb.\nThe Lord as \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd is, as in Co1 4:3., put in contrast with the \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd of men, or of human \u1f21\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u1fb3. If men sit in judgment upon the righteous, yet God, the supreme Judge, does not condemn him, but acquits him (cf. on the contrary Psa 109:7). Si condemnamur a mundo, exclaimed Tertullian to his companions in persecution, absolvimur a Deo.\nLet the eye of faith directed hopefully to Jahve go on its way, without suffering thyself to be turned aside by the persecution and condemnation of the world, then He will at length raise thee out of all trouble, and cause thee to possess (\u05dc\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea, ut possidas et possideas) the land, as the sole lords of which the evil-doers, now cut off, conducted themselves.\n\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05e5 (after the form \u05e6\u05d3\u05bc\u05d9\u05e7) is coupled with \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2, must as these two words alternate in Job 15:20 : a terror-inspiring, tyrannical evil-doer; cf. besides also Job 5:3. The participle in Psa 37:35 forms a clause by itself: et se diffundens, scil. erat. The lxx and Jerome translate as though it were \u05db\u05d0\u05e8\u05d6 \u05d4\u05dc\u05d1\u05e0\u05df, \"like the cedars of Lebanon,\" instead of \u05db\u05d0\u05d6\u05e8\u05d7 \u05e8\u05e2\u05e0\u05df. But \u05d0\u05d6\u05e8\u05d7 \u05e8\u05e2\u05e0\u05df is the expression for an oak, terebinth, or the like, that has brown from time immemorial in its native soil, and has in the course of centuries attained a gigantic size in the stem, and a wide-spreading overhanging head. \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8 does not mean: then he vanished away (Hupfeld and others); for \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8 in this sense is not suitable to a tree. Luther correctly renders it: man ging vorber, one (they) passed by, Ges. \u0597137, 3. The lxx, Syriac, and others, by way of lightening the difficulty, render it: then I passed by.\n\u05ea\u05bc\u05dd might even be taken as neuter for \u05ea\u05bc\u05dd, and \u05d9\u05e9\u05c2\u05e8 for \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8; but in this case the poet would have written \u05e8\u05e2\u05d4 instead of \u05e8\u05d0\u05d4; \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e8 is therefore used as, e.g., in Sa1 1:12. By \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 that to which attention is specially called is introduced. The man of peace has a totally different lot from the evil-doer who delights in contention and persecution. As the fruit of his love of peace he has \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea, a future, Pro 23:18; Pro 24:14, viz., in his posterity, Pro 24:20; whereas the apostates are altogether blotted out; not merely they themselves, but even the posterity of the ungodly is cut off, Amo 4:2; Amo 9:1; Eze 23:25. To them remains no posterity to carry forward their name, their \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea is devoted to destruction (cf. Psa 109:13 with Num 24:20).\nThe salvation of the righteous cometh from Jahve; it is therefore characterized, in accordance with its origin, as sure, perfect, and enduring for ever. \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05d6\u05bc\u05dd is an apposition; the plena scriptio serves, as in Sa2 22:33, to indicate to us that \u05de\u05e2\u05d5\u05d6 is meant in this passage to signify not a fortress, but a hiding-place, a place of protection, a refuge, in which sense Arab. ma'\u00e2d\u201bllh (the protection of God) and m\u201b\u00e2\u1e0fwjh\u201bllh (the protection of God's presence) is an Arabic expression (also used as a formula of an oath); vid., moreover on Psa 31:3. The moods of sequence in Psa 37:40 are aoristi gnomici. The parallelism in Psa 37:40 is progressive after the manner of the Psalms of degrees. The short confirmatory clause kich\u0101'subo forms an expressive closing cadence.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 37","type":"page"}