but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming.
Parallel translations
- WEB The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.
- KJV The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
- NKJV The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.
- NASB The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.
- NLT But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.
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 Lord laughs at the wicked because He sees that their day of judgment is coming. God is unthreatened by evil's plots.
Overview
While the wicked gnash their teeth, the Lord 'will laugh,' not from cruelty but from the certainty that their downfall is fixed (echoing Psalm 2:4). God sees 'his day' of reckoning approaching. This sovereign confidence assures believers that no scheme against them escapes God, who will judge all evil through Christ, to whom all judgment is given (John 5:22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 2:4The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord taunts them.
- Prov 1:26in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
- Dan 5:26And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
- 1 Sam 26:10David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
- Ezek 21:25And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’
- Ezek 21:29while they offer false visions for you and lying divinations about you—to be placed on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.
- Job 18:20Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.
- Jer 50:27Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.
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 37:13 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.