properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
ever
לְעוֹלָ֥םle.'o.Lam
H5769
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Psalms 1:6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Psalms 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the n…
Psalms 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;
Psalms 49:5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
Psalms 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
1 Peter 1:4-5 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
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…
God, who knows His people's changes, provides against evil and supplies all their need.
John Gill on Psalms 37:18
The Lord knoweth the days of the upright,.... Not only how long they shall live, and so fill up their days, the number of them, as Aben Ezra interprets it; but the nature of their days, whether prosperous or adverse; and causes both to work together for their good; and he knows the work of their days, as Jarchi explains it, the actions done by them in faith and love, and to his honour and glory, and which he approves and accepts of in Christ; see Psalm 1:6;
and their inheritance shall be for ever; in heaven, which is an eternal and never fading one, Hebrews 9:15; and therefore they ought not to fret and be envious.
John Calvin on Psalms 37:16-19
Psalm 37:16-19
16. Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. [31] 17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but Jehovah upholdeth the righteous. 18. Jehovah knoweth the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be everlasting. 19. They shall not be ashamed in the season of adversity; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
16. Better is the little of the righteous, etc This verse, without any sufficient reason, has been variously rendered. The word hmvn, hamon, [32] which is rendered abundance, indeed, sometimes signifies a great multitude of men, and sometimes abundance of things; sometimes, too, an adjective of the plural number is j…
The Church Fathers
"Knows" means makes his own, as in the first psalm, "Because the Lord knows the ways of the righteous," that is, makes them his own.
The Lord knows the days of the immaculate, for by the grace of His immaculate innocence and fullness, He has mercy, He does not have mercy on the erring. They do not have a day, for they flee from the light, of whom it is beautifully said: Their days pass like a shadow. Therefore, knowledge of God is a matter of worthiness, not of vision. His eyes are light: those whom He looks upon, He illuminates; and therefore, His eyes are the days of the just.
..."The Lord knoweth the ways of the spotless ones" (ver. 18). When they suffer ills, they are believed to be walking ill ways by those who are ignorant, by those who have not knowledge to discern "the ways of the spotless ones." He who "knoweth those ways," knoweth by what way to lead His own, "them that are gentle," in the right way. Whence in another Psalm he said, "The meek shall He guide in judgment; them that are gentle will He teach His way." How, think you, was that beggar, who lay covered with sores before the rich man's door, spurned by the passers by! How did they, probably, close their nostrils and spit at him! The Lord, however, knew how to reserve Paradise for him. How did they, on the other hand, desire for themselves the life of him who was "clad in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day!" But the Lord, who foresaw that man's "day coming," knew the torments, the torments without end, that were in store for him. Therefore "The Lord knoweth the ways of the upright." "And their inheritance shall be for ever." This we hold by faith. Doth the Lord too know it by faith? The Lord knoweth those things with as clear a manifestation, as we cannot speak of even when we shall be made equal to the Angels. For the things that shall be manifest to us, shall not be equally manifest to us as they are now to Him, who is incapable of change. Yet even of us ourselves what is said? "Beloved, now are we the sons of God: and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." There is therefore surely some blissful vision reserved for us; and if it can be now in some measure conceived, "darkly and through a glass," yet cannot we in any way express in language the ravishing beauty of that bliss, which God reserves for them that fear Him, which He consummates in those that hope in Him. It is for that destination that our hearts are being disciplined in all the troubles and trials of this life. Wonder not that it is in trouble that thou art disciplined for it. It is for something glorious that thou art being disciplined. Whence comes that speech of the now strengthened righteous man: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us"? What is that promised glory to be, but to be made equal to the Angels and to…
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…
Immortality · 2:11; — 2:11;
Uprightness · They who walk in, shall: Have inheritance for ever — They who walk in, shall: Have inheritance for ever
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 life of those who love Jahve with the whole heart is, with all its vicissitudes, an object of His loving regard and of His observant providential care, Psa 1:6; Psa 31:8, cf. Psa 16:1-11. He neither suffers His own to lose their heritage nor to be themselves lost to it. The αἰώνιος κληρονομία is not as yet thought of as extending into the future world, as in the New Testament. In Psa 37:19 the surviving refers only to this present life.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 37:18-20
The Lord cares for the blameless in this life and for eternity, but the wicked will perish.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 37:18
The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.
The Lord knoweth the days of the upright. His foreknowledge made him laugh at the proud, but in the case of the upright he sees a brighter future, and treats them as heirs of salvation. Ever is this our comfort, that all events are known to our God, and that nothing in our future can take him at unawares. No arrow can pierce us by accident, no danger smite us by stealth; neither in time nor eternity can any unforeseen ill occur to us. Futurity shall be but a continual development of the good things which the Lord has laid up in store for us. And their inheritance shall be for ever. Their inheritance fades not…
