Psalms 37:36

Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
away	וַ֭יַּֽעֲבֹר Vai.ya.'a.vor	H5674	to cross over · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sought	וָֽ֝אֲבַקְשֵׁ֗הוּ va.'a.vak.She.hu	H1245	to search out (by any method · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
found	נִמְצָֽא nim.Tza'	H4672	properly · verb, niphal perfect, 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

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.
Acts 12:22-23 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
Exodus 15:19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon…
Isaiah 10:16-19 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burnin…
Isaiah 10:33-34 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall…
Exodus 15:9-10 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand…
Job 20:5-29 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 37:34–end

The psalmist's conclusion of this sermon (for that is the nature of this poem) is of the same purport with the whole, and inculcates the same things. I. The duty here pressed upon us is still the same (Psa 37:34): Wait on the Lord and keep his way. Duty is ours, and we must mind it and make conscience of it, keep God's way and never turn out of it nor loiter in it, keep close, keep going; but events are God's and we must refer ourselves to him for the disposal of them; we must wait on the Lord, attend the motions of his providence, carefully observe them, and conscientiously accommodate ourselves to them. If we make conscience of keeping God's way, we may with cheerfulness wait on him and co…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 37:36

he was not--(Compare Psa 37:10).

John Gill on Psalms 37:36

Yet he passed away,.... At once, on a sudden; either his riches and honour, which, in one hour, came to nought, by one providence or another; or he himself by death; in the midst of all his prosperity, and while blessing himself in it, his soul was required of him; and so the Targum is, "he ceased from the world"; he went out of it unawares: the laurel, or bay tree, very quickly grows old (d); and, lo, he was not; he was not reduced to nothing; he did not become a nonentity, though he might wish himself to be so; it being better for him if he had never been born; but he was not in the land of the living, in hell he lifted up his eyes; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found; in the pl…

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John Calvin on Psalms 37:34-36

Psalm 37:34-36 34. Wait upon Jehovah, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee, that thou mayest inherit the earth: when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it. 35. I have seen the wicked terrible, [45] and spreading himself like a green bay tree: [46] 36. And he passed away, [47] and, lo! he was not: and I sought for his place, and he was not found. 34 Wait upon Jehovah, and keep his way David again returns to the style of exhortation, in order that the faithful, trusting to God's promises and sustained by them, may not suffer themselves to be drawn hither and thither by any temptations through devious and sinful ways, but may persevere steadfastly in the service of God. In the first p…

The Church Fathers

One passes out of this world in two ways, either when it is left through a person's superior way of life, or when it is forsaken in the end by the dead. So the one who has passed on to God with a most holy way of life no longer sees a sinner as a powerful individual, since he sees everything in which humans boast as powerless.… This world is known as the place of sinners where they both carry out their wicked deeds and where their wealth, with all its transitory joy, is piled high. But this place is destroyed along with their prosperity, when the glory of the entire corruptible world is brought to an end.
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 37:36

"I passed by, and, lo, he was not! I sought him, and his place could nowhere be found!" (ver. 36). Why was he "no more, and his place nowhere to be found"? Because thou hast "passed by." But if thou art yet carnally-minded, and that earthly prosperity appears to thee to be true happiness, thou hast not yet "passed by" him; thou art either his fellow, or thou art below him; go on, and pass him; and when thou hast made progress, and hast passed by him, thou observest him by the eye of faith; thou seest his end, thou sayest to thyself, "Lo! he who so swelled before, is not!" just as if it were some smoke that thou wert passing near to. For this too was said above in this very Psalm, "They shall consume and fade away as the smoke." ...
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 37

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

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…
Happiness · .Il — .Il
Happiness Of The Wicked, The · Illustrated — Illustrated

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).

Psalms 37:36

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 37:34–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 37:36

John Gill on Psalms 37:36

John Calvin on Psalms 37:34-36

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 37:36

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 37:34–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 37:36

John Gill on Psalms 37:36

John Calvin on Psalms 37:34-36

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 37:35-36

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 37:35-36

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 37:36