The wicked wait in ambush for the godly, looking for an excuse to kill them.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to kill him.
- KJV The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
- BSB Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,
- NKJV The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks to slay him.
- NASB The wicked spies upon the righteous And seeks to kill him.
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 watches the righteous and seeks to kill him. The godly are often the targets of deadly hostility.
Overview
David again voices the danger faced by the just: the wicked spies on him with murderous intent. This realism balances the psalm's promises, acknowledging that faithfulness invites opposition. The pattern reaches its climax in Christ, watched and plotted against by His enemies, yet not abandoned by the Father, assuring His followers that God sees and defends them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 20:10For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.”
- Luke 14:1When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.
- Luke 20:20They watched him, and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.
- Luke 19:47–48He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him.
- Ps 10:8–10He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.
- Luke 6:7The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him.
- Acts 9:24but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,
- Luke 11:54lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.
- Ps 37:12The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 37:32 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.