Psalms 37

37 ¹Do not fret because of evildoers; do not be envious of those who do wrong, ²for like grass they will soon wither, and like green plants they will fade away.

³Trust in our Father and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. ⁴Delight yourself in our Father, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to our Father; trust in him, and he will act. ⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your justice like the noonday.

⁷Be still before our Father and wait patiently for him; do not fret over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out wicked schemes.

⁸Give up anger and let go of your wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. ⁹For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for our Father will inherit the land.

¹⁰A little while longer, and the wicked will be no more; though you look closely at his place, he will not be there. ¹¹But the humble will inherit the land and delight in abundant peace. ^a a v11 Jesus draws this promise into his Beatitudes: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

¹²The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him; ¹³but the Sovereign Father laughs at him, for our Father sees that the wicked man's day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked draw the sword and bend their bow to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those whose way is upright. ¹⁵Their sword will pierce their own heart, and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶Better the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked; ¹⁷for the strength of the wicked will be broken, but our Father upholds the righteous.

¹⁸Our Father knows the days of the blameless, and their inheritance will last forever. ¹⁹They will not be put to shame in evil times; in days of famine they will be satisfied.

²⁰But the wicked will perish, and the enemies of our Father will vanish like the flowers of the meadows—like smoke they vanish away.

²¹The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous is gracious and gives. ²²For those blessed by him will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be cut off.

²³The steps of a man are established by our Father, and our Father delights in the man's way; ²⁴though he stumble, he will not fall headlong, for our Father holds his hand.

²⁵I was young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. ²⁶All day long he is gracious and lends, and his children become a blessing.

²⁷Turn from evil and do good, and you will dwell forever. ²⁸For our Father loves justice and will not forsake his faithful ones; they are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

²⁹The righteous will inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. ³¹The instruction of his Father is in his heart; his steps do not slip.

³²The wicked lies in wait for the righteous and seeks to put him to death; ³³but our Father will not abandon him to his hand or let him be condemned when he is judged.

³⁴Wait for our Father and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

³⁵I have seen a wicked, ruthless man spreading himself like a luxuriant native tree; ³⁶but he passed away, and suddenly he was no more; I looked for him, but he could not be found.

³⁷Watch the blameless and observe the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. ³⁸But transgressors will be destroyed altogether; the future of the wicked will be cut off.

³⁹The salvation of the righteous is from our Father; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. ⁴⁰Our Father helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.