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.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
- 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 melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- Ps 102:3For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
- Luke 13:3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
- Deut 33:14–16for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, for the precious things that the moon can yield,
- Judg 5:31“So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.
- Gen 19:28He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
- 2 Pet 2:12But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,
- Ps 92:9For, behold, your enemies, Yahweh, for, behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered.
- Lev 3:3–11He shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards,
- Luke 13:5I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
- Lev 3:16The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s.
- Heb 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.
- Deut 29:20Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
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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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