Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes 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.
- BSB Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret—it can only bring 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 14:29He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
- Prov 16:32One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.
- Jas 1:19–20So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Eph 4:31Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.
- Eph 4:26“Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,
- Job 5:2For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
- Jas 3:14–18But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- Col 3:8but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
- Job 18:4You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?
- Jonah 4:1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
- 1 Sam 25:21–23Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.
- Ps 73:15If I had said, “I will speak thus”; behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
- Jonah 4:9God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
- Ps 31:22As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
- Luke 9:54–55When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”
- Jer 20:14–15Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
- Ps 116:11I said in my haste, “All men are liars.”
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 37:8 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.