But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
Parallel translations
- WEB But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish — vanish like smoke.
- BSB But the wicked and enemies of the LORD will perish like the glory of the fields. They will vanish; like smoke they will fade away.
- NKJV But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the Lord, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.
- NASB But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures, They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
- NLT But the wicked will die. The Lord’s enemies are like flowers in a field— they will disappear like smoke.
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 and God's enemies will perish, vanishing like smoke and the fading beauty of the fields. Their glory is fleeting.
Overview
In contrast to the satisfied righteous, the wicked 'shall perish,' disappearing like the short-lived splendor of meadow flowers and like smoke. Their seeming glory has no permanence. This sober certainty of judgment underscores why the righteous must trust God rather than envy evildoers, and magnifies the grace that rescues sinners from such an end through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 68:2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- Ps 102:3For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
- Luke 13:3I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
- Deut 33:14–16And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
- Judg 5:31So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
- Gen 19:28And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
- 2 Pet 2:12But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
- Ps 92:9For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
- Lev 3:3–11And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
- Luke 13:5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
- Lev 3:16And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’s.
- Heb 12:29For our God is a consuming fire.
- Deut 29:20The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
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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 37:20 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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