The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.
- BSB The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
- NKJV The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth.
- NASB ¶The wicked plots against the righteous, And gnashes at him with his teeth.
- NLT The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance.
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 plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth in hostility. The godly often face active malice.
Overview
David acknowledges the real danger: the wicked scheme against the just with seething hatred, 'gnashes at him with his teeth.' This sober realism keeps the psalm's comfort from being naive. The righteous have always faced such enmity, supremely Christ, against whom His enemies raged, yet God's purposes prevail.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 35:16With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
- Mic 2:1Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- Dan 8:12And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.
- Ps 31:13For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
- Matt 26:16And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
- 1 Sam 18:21And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.
- Matt 26:4And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.
- Esth 3:6And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
- Ps 37:32The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
- 1 Sam 23:7–9And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
- Dan 8:24And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
- 2 Sam 15:10–12But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron.
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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 37:12 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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