Don't Fret Because of Evildoers
1 By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb. 3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this: 6 he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun. 7 Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land. 10 For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there. 11 But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 12 The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill those who are upright on the path. 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart. Their bows shall be broken. 16 Better is a little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous. 18 Yahweh knows the days of the perfect. Their inheritance shall be forever. 19 They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil. In the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish— vanish like smoke.
An old man's answer to the oldest complaint, and its argument is entirely about time.
By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.
An acrostic, and a wisdom poem rather than a prayer — God is spoken about rather than to. It addresses the problem the seventy-third psalm will state at its sharpest: the wicked are doing well, and it is unbearable to watch.
The opening names the real danger, and it is not the evildoers. It is fretting and envy — what watching them does to the watcher. The psalm's concern throughout is the state of the person looking on.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
The entire answer is a matter of timescale, and the psalm returns to it a dozen times. Nothing is disputed about the present situation; what is disputed is that the present situation is the whole picture.
3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Four imperatives, and the fourth is often quoted as a promise that God supplies what a person wants. Read in place, it says something better and stranger: delight in God, and the desires of the heart change into things he gives. A man who delights in God has different desires by the end of the sentence than he had at the beginning.
5 Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this: 6 he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun.
The verb for committing is the word for rolling a load onto someone else. And what is promised is vindication rather than success — that the truth about him will eventually be visible, which is exactly what a slandered man cannot produce for himself.
Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.
The hardest instruction in the psalm. The prospering is admitted in the same sentence that forbids fretting about it.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.
The reason given for not fretting is that it is productive of exactly the thing being fretted about. Indignation at wrong turns, in time, into wrong.
But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Jesus takes this verse into the Beatitudes almost unchanged Matthew 5:5, and the promise it makes is one of the strangest in Scripture: the inheritance goes to the people least equipped to seize it.
Better is a little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked.
The comparison is not between poverty and wealth but between two portions, and the psalm has already said what makes the difference.
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