Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
- KJV Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
- BSB Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
- NKJV Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
- NLT They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The wicked will not survive God's judgment nor belong among His righteous people. There is a final, decisive separation between the two ways.
Overview
This verse draws the consequence of the chaff image: the wicked cannot stand when God judges, and they have no place in the assembly of the godly. Scripture consistently points to a final judgment that separates the righteous from the unrighteous. Only those counted righteous in Christ, whose record is spotless, will stand in that day (Romans 8:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 5:5The arrogant shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.
- Matt 25:46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Matt 25:41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- Luke 21:36Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Matt 25:32Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- Matt 13:49So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
- Jude 1:15to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
- Ps 9:7–8But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
- Ps 26:9Don’t gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men;
- Ps 9:16Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.
- Ps 24:3Who may ascend to Yahweh’s hill? Who may stand in his holy place?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 1:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.