Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret—it can only bring harm.
Parallel translations
- WEB Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret, it leads only to evildoing.
- KJV Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
- NKJV Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.
- NASB Cease from anger and abandon wrath; Do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.
- NLT Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm.
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
David warns against anger and wrath, which only lead to more evildoing. Resentment over injustice can drive us into sin ourselves.
Overview
The repeated counsel not to fret is sharpened here: simmering anger and wrath are dangerous because they tempt us toward wrongdoing. Indignation at the wicked must not make us like them. The New Testament likewise warns that human anger does not produce God's righteousness (James 1:20), calling us instead to entrust justice to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Prov 14:29A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.
- Prov 16:32He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.
- Jas 1:19–20My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
- Eph 4:31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.
- Eph 4:26“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
- Job 5:2For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
- Jas 3:14–18But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
- Col 3:8But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
- Job 18:4You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
- Jonah 4:1Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.
- 1 Sam 25:21–23Now David had just finished saying, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.
- Ps 73:15If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children.
- Jonah 4:9Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
- Ps 31:22In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.
- Luke 9:54–55When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
- Jer 20:14–15Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
- Ps 116:11In my alarm I said, “All men are liars!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 37:8 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.