For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
Parallel translations
- WEB For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.
- BSB Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
- NKJV For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more.
- NASB Yet a little while and the wicked person will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
- NLT Soon the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone.
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
In a little while the wicked will be gone, their place empty when you look for them. Evil's apparent permanence is an illusion.
Overview
David assures that the wicked, however imposing now, will soon vanish so completely that their place cannot be found. The phrase 'yet a little while' counsels patience grounded in certainty. This temporary nature of evil and its perpetrators is finally guaranteed by God's judgment, secured in the triumph of Christ over all that opposes His kingdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Job 24:24They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
- Ps 107:42–43The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
- Ps 103:16For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
- Ps 37:35–36I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
- 1 Pet 4:7But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
- Ps 52:5God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
- Ps 58:10–11The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
- Heb 10:36–37For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
- Job 7:10He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
- Job 20:8–9He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
- Luke 16:27–28Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
- Luke 12:20–21But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
- Rev 6:10–11And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
- Job 14:10But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
- Isa 14:16–19They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
- Ps 49:10For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- 2 Kgs 9:25Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden upon him;
- 2 Kgs 9:34–37And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king’s daughter.
- Ps 73:18–20Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- Job 7:21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
- 1 Sam 25:38–39And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
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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 37:10 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
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