For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
- BSB For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
- NKJV For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
- NASB For the Lord loves justice And does not abandon His godly ones; They are protected forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be eliminated.
- NLT For the Lord loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will die.
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 loves justice and never forsakes His saints, preserving them forever while the wicked's line is cut off. God's covenant love guarantees the security of His people.
Overview
David grounds the believer's security in God's character: He loves justice and does not abandon His faithful ones, keeping them 'forever.' By contrast the wicked are removed. This everlasting preservation of the saints anticipates the gospel doctrine that God keeps those He saves to the end, none of whom can be lost from Christ's hand (John 10:28-29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Prov 2:22But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
- Ps 11:7For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
- Ps 21:10Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.
- Isa 59:21As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
- 1 Pet 1:5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Jude 1:1Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
- Isa 14:20–21Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
- Isa 61:8For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
- Job 27:14If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
- Ps 45:6–7Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
- Ps 37:40And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
- John 5:24Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
- John 15:9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
- John 6:39–40And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
- Jer 9:24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
- Jer 32:40–41And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
- John 10:28–30And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
- Job 18:19He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
- Ps 37:25I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
- Exod 20:5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
- Ps 92:13–15Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
- Isa 30:18And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
- Ps 99:4The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
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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 37:28 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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