Psalm 37 · a question people ask

"Don’t fret because of evildoers" (37:1). Is it wrong to be troubled when the wicked do well?

In the text

The psalm's word is charah, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives in the form used here as "heat oneself in vexation" (tap fret). The psalm says three times not to (37:1, 37:7, 37:8), and it says where fretting leads: "Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing" (37:8). Other Scripture records people bringing the same trouble to God in their prayers. Jeremiah: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" (Jeremiah 12:1). Habakkuk: "why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he" (Habakkuk 1:13). Psalm 73 tells it from the inside: "For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (Psalm 73:3), with Psalm 37:1's word for envious (tap envious), "until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end" (Psalm 73:17). Psalm 37 doesn't speak of those prayers, and these notes don't say how its warning and those prayers fit together.

The verses

“By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.”
Psalm 37:1 · World English Bible
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.”
Psalm 37:7-8 · World English Bible
“You are righteous, LORD, when I contend with you; yet I would like to plead a case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?”
Jeremiah 12:1 · World English Bible
“You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,”
Habakkuk 1:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 37

Psalm 37: Don't fret

"Don’t fret" comes three times in Psalm 37, and the third time says where fretting leads: "it leads only to evildoing" (37:8). In Hebrew evildoing is the verb of the first warning, "Don’t fret because of evildoers" (37:1).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions