23 The steps of a man are established by Jehovah, and he delighteth in his way:
He keepeth the feet of his saints, but the wicked are silenced in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be well-ordered.
The heart of man deviseth his way, but Jehovah directeth his steps.
Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in, from henceforth and for evermore.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set his footsteps on the way.
But of doing good and communicating [of your substance] be not forgetful, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man; Jehovah taketh pleasure in those that fear him, in those that hope in his loving-kindness.
The perverse in heart are abomination to Jehovah; but they that are perfect in [their] way are his delight.
My foot hath held to his steps; his way have I kept, and not turned aside. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.
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.