a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wicked
רָשָׁ֑עra.Sha'
H7563
morally wrong · noun, common masculine singular absolute
consider
וְהִתְבּוֹנַ֖נְתָּve.hit.bo.Nan.ta
H995
to separate mentally (or distinguish) · conjunction + verb, hithpael sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
place
מְקוֹמ֣וֹme.ko.Mo
H4725
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of th…
Psalms 37:35-36 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Psalms 103:16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Psalms 107:42-43 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
Job 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
Psalms 52:5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land o…
Psalms 58:10-11 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 37:7-20
In these verses we have,
I. The foregoing precepts inculcated; for we are so apt to disquiet ourselves with needless fruitless discontents and distrusts that it is necessary there should be precept upon precept, and line upon line, to suppress them and arm us against them. 1. Let us compose ourselves by believing in God: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him (Psa 37:7), that is, be well reconciled to all he does and acquiesce in it, for that is best that is, because it is what God has appointed; and be well satisfied that he will still make all to work for good to us, though we know not how or which way." Be silent to the Lord (so the word is), not with a sullen, but a submissive sil…
shall not be--literally, "is not"--is not to be found.
John Gill on Psalms 37:10
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be,.... Not that they shall be annihilated or reduced to nothing, because nonentities have no place nor being any where; when they die they shall lift up their eyes in hell; their bodies will rise again at the last day; they shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and go into everlasting punishment; but they shall be no more in the world, and in the same flourishing and prosperous circumstances they were: and this their destruction will be in a short time, very quickly;
yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be; his dwelling place, called after his own name, to perpetuate the memory of him; see Job 7:10; an in…
Psalm 37:7-11
7. Be silent to Jehovah, and wait for him; fret not because of the man who prospereth in his way, against the man who commits wickedness. [23] 8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself so as to do evil, 9. For the wicked shall be cut off; but those that wait upon Jehovah shall inherit the earth. 10. Yet a little while; and the wicked shall not be; and thou shalt look upon his place, and shalt not find him. 11. But the meek shall inherit the earth, [24] and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
7. Be silent to Jehovah. The Psalmist continues the illustration of the same doctrine, namely, that we should patiently and meekly bear those things that us…
The Church Fathers
The wicked not only grows rich but even plots against the righteous, God's permission causing both developments to go ahead; but let it not alarm you. God in his foreknowledge [is] aware of the fate of the wicked and [sees] the righteous person's endurance.… God looks ahead to [the wicked person's] fate and mocks his threats and his frenzy, aware as he is of the future. Thus in many cases when the wicked think they have gotten the better of the righteous, then it is that sudden ruin overtakes them when unexpected punishment is inflicted on them by God.
(Verse 10.) But because he did not want to be redeemed through these means, and he believes he should persist in sin, of him the Prophet says: 'And yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.' For how can he exist in the future, when the place of sin cannot endure? For this is the earth that opened its mouth to receive the blood of the innocent. And therefore in this earth is the place of sinners. The earth passes away, how then can the place of the sinner be found? I believe that the reason why God commanded there to be a firmament between the waters and the waters (Gen. I, 6) is so that He may discern sins from virtues; and the upper water, which praises the Lord, would remain free from error, while the lower water would be subject to sin. Indeed, the former sees God, but the latter does not: what is above the heavens sees Him; what is in the abyss does not. Hence it is also said: The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and trembled; the depths were troubled, the multitude of waters made a noise (Psal. LXXVI, 17). The abyss is disturbed by the deserving ones, upon which the deformed darkness lies, and therefore they cannot have peace. Hence, the legion of demons asked to be sent into the abyss, and they threw themselves into the waves with a great tumult (Matthew 8:31); in order to strangle the herd of pigs they had found. Therefore, sinners seek the abyss, where the darkness of shadows is.
"But how long is the sinner to flourish? How long shall I have to endure?" Thou art impatient; that which seems long to thee, will soon come to pass. It is infirmity makes that seem long, which is really short, as is found in the case of the longings of sick men. Nothing seems so long as the mixing of the potion for him when athirst. For all that his attendants are making all speed, lest haply the patient be angry; "When will it be done? (he cries). When will it be drest? When will it be served?" Those who are waiting upon you are making haste, but your infirmity fancies that long which is being done with expedition. Behold ye, therefore, our Physician complying with the infirmity of the patient, saying, "How long shall I have to endure? How long will it be?" "Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be" (ver. 10). Is it certainly among sinners, and because of the sinner, that thou murmurest? "A little while, and he shall not be." Lest haply because I said, "They that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land," thou shouldest think that waiting to be of very long duration. Wait "a little while," thou shalt receive without end what thou waitest for. A little while, a moderate space. Review the years from Adam's time up to this day; run through the Scriptures. It is almost yesterday that he fell from Paradise! So many ages have been measured out, and unrolled. Where now are the past ages? Even so, however, shall the few which remain, pass away also. Hadst thou been living throughout all that time, since Adam was banished from Paradise up to this present day, thou wouldest certainly see that the life, which had thus flown away, had not been of long duration. But how long is the duration of each individual's life? Add any number of years you please: prolong old age to its longest duration: what is it? Is it not but a morning breeze? Be it so, however, that the Day of Judgment is far off, when the reward of the righteous and of the unrighteous is to come: your last day at all events cannot be far off. Make thyself ready against this! For such as thou shall have departed from this life, shalt thou be restored to the other. At the close of that short life, you will not yet be, where the Saints shall be, to whom it shall be said, "Come, ye blessed of My Father: inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." You will not yet be…
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Resignation · Exhortation to — Exhortation to
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The protasis in Psa 37:10 is literally: adhuc parum (temporis superest), עוד מעט ו, as e.g., Exo 23:30, and as in a similar connection מעט ו, Job 24:24. והתבּוננתּ also is a protasis with a hypothetical perfect, Ges. ֗155, 4, a. This promise also runs in the mouth of the Preacher on the Mount (Mat 5:5) just as the lxx renders Psa 37:11: οἱ δὲ πρᾳεῖς κληρονομήσουσι γῆν. Meekness, which is content with God, and renounces all earthly stays, will at length become the inheritor of the land, yea of the earth. Whatever God-opposed self-love may amass to itself and may seek to acquire, falls into the hands of the meek as their blessed possession.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 37:9-11
The wicked will not possess the land; those who trust in the Lord will. The Lord promises an inheritance because he is committed to caring for his people.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 37:10
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. When bad men reach to greatness, the judgments of God frequently sweep them away; their riches melt, their power decays, their happiness turns to wretchedness; they themselves cease any longer to be numbered with the living. The shortness of life makes us see that the glitter of the wicked great is not true gold. O wherefore, tried believer, dost thou envy one who in a little while will lie lower than the dust? Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. His house shall be empty, his chair of off…
