But the transgressors will all be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.
Parallel translations
- WEB As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
- KJV But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.
- NKJV But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
- NASB But wrongdoers will altogether be destroyed; The future of the wicked will be eliminated.
- NLT But the rebellious will be destroyed; they have no future.
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
Transgressors will be destroyed together, and the future of the wicked is cut off. The unrepentant have no lasting hope.
Overview
David completes the contrast: while the upright have a future (v.37), the wicked are destroyed and their 'future' cut off. Persistent rebellion against God ends in ruin. This solemn warning underscores the urgency of the gospel, which alone rescues sinners from this end and grants them, through Christ, the future the wicked forfeit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 14:32The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
- Ps 52:5Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- 2 Th 1:8–9in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Ps 1:4–6Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
- Ps 9:17The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
- Matt 13:49–50So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous,
- Matt 13:30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
- Ps 73:17until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.
- Matt 25:46And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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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 37:38 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.