For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
Parallel translations
- WEB For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
- KJV For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
- NKJV For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
- NASB For they will wither quickly like the grass, And decay like the green plants.
- NLT For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.
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 reason not to envy the wicked is that they will soon be cut down and wither like grass. Their prosperity is short-lived.
Overview
David grounds his counsel against envy in the brevity of the wicked's success; like grass they quickly fade. What looks enviable today will not last. This long view, weighing eternity against the moment, frees believers from fretting and anticipates the New Testament's reminder that all flesh is grass while God's word endures forever (1 Peter 1:24-25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 92:7that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- Ps 90:5–6You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
- Jas 1:10–11But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Ps 37:35–36I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Job 14:2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
- Job 20:5–9the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Ps 73:17–20until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.
- 1 Pet 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Ps 129:5–7May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.
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 37:2 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.