18 The days of the upright are numbered by the Lord, and their heritage will be for ever.
Because the Lord sees the way of the upright, but the end of the sinner is destruction.
But the mercy of the Lord is eternal for his worshippers, and their children's children will see his righteousness;
I will be glad and have delight in your mercy; because you have seen my trouble; you have had pity on my soul in its sorrows;
For the reward of sin is death; but what God freely gives is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
And I will give orders to my two witnesses, and they will be prophets for a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed with haircloth. These are the two olive-trees and the two lights, which are before the Lord of the earth. And if any man would do them damage, fire comes out of their mouth and puts an end to those who are working against them: and if any man has a desire to do them damage, in this way will he be put to death.
And this is the hope which he gave you, even eternal life.
And a heritage fair, holy and for ever new, waiting in heaven for you, Who, by the power of God are kept, through faith, for that salvation, which will be seen at the last day.
Be preaching the word at all times, in every place; make protests, say sharp words, give comfort, with long waiting and teaching; For the time will come when they will not take the true teaching; but, moved by their desires, they will get for themselves a great number of teachers for the pleasure of hearing them; And shutting their ears to what is true, will be turned away to belief in foolish stories.
But be certain of this, that in the last days times of trouble will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, uplifted in pride, given to bitter words, going against the authority of their fathers, never giving praise, having no religion, Without natural love, bitter haters, saying evil of others, violent and uncontrolled, hating all good, False to their friends, acting without thought, lifted up in mind, loving pleasure more than God; Having a form of religion, but turning their backs on the power of it: go not with these.
But God's strong base is unchanging, having this sign, The Lord has knowledge of those who are his: and, Let everyone by whom the name of the Lord is named be turned away from evil.
That, as sin had power in death, so grace might have power through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Because in those days there will be great sorrow, such as there has not been from the start of the world till now, or ever will be. And if those days had not been made short there would have been no salvation for any, but because of the saints those days will be made short. Then if any man says to you, See, here is the Christ, or, Here; do not put faith in him; For there will come up false Christs, and false prophets, who will do great signs and wonders; so that if possible even the saints might be tricked.
Your people will all be upright, the land will be their heritage for ever; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, to be for my glory.
What cause have I for fear in the days of evil, when the evil-doing of those who are working for my downfall is round about me?
The chances of my life are in your hand; take me out of the hands of my haters, and of those who go after me.
He made request to you for life, and you gave it to him, long life for ever and ever.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 37
Commentary on Psalms 37 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 37
This psalm is a sermon, and an excellent useful sermon it is, calculated not (as most of the psalms) for our devotion, but for our conversation; there is nothing in it of prayer or praise, but it is all instruction; it is "Maschil-a teaching psalm;' it is an exposition of some of the hardest chapters in the book of Providence, the advancement of the wicked and the disgrace of the righteous, a solution of the difficulties that arise thereupon, and an exhortation to conduct ourselves as becomes us under such dark dispensations. The work of the prophets (and David was one) was to explain the law. Now the law of Moses had promised temporal blessings to the obedient, and denounced temporal miseries against the disobedient, which principally referred to the body of the people, the nation as a nation; for, when they came to be applied to particular persons, many instances occurred of sinners in prosperity and saints in adversity; to reconcile those instances with the word that God had spoken is the scope of the prophet in this psalm, in which,
In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish one another rightly to understand the providence of God and to accommodate ourselves to it, at all times carefully to do our duty and then patiently to leave the event with God and to believe that, how black soever things may look for the present, it shall be "well with those that fear God, that fear before him.'
A psalm of David.
Psa 37:1-6
The instructions here given are very plain; much need not be said for the exposition of them, but there is a great deal to be done for the reducing of them to practice, and there they will look best.
Psa 37:7-20
In these verses we have,
Psa 37:21-33
These verses are much to the same purport with the foregoing verses of this psalm, for it is a subject worthy to be dwelt upon. Observe here,
Psa 37:34-40
The psalmist's conclusion of this sermon (for that is the nature of this poem) is of the same purport with the whole, and inculcates the same things.