Bible Strands
Psalms 37:13
but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the righteous, contrasting their temporary vulnerability with the certain judgment of the wicked who scheme and draw weapons against them. The statement occurs immediately after describing the wicked's violent intent to slay the poor and the upright.
The words — יִשְׂחַק־ (yis.chak-) = he laughs, and יָבֹ֥א (ya.Vo') = it will come. The text states that the Lord laughs because he sees that the day of judgment is arriving.
The thread — This motif of divine laughter at impending judgment appears in Psalms 2:4, Proverbs 1:26, and 1 Samuel 26:10. Each reference pairs the certainty of a coming day with God's sovereign response to human rebellion.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human threats cannot outrun divine timing. It requires the reader to trust that God's observation of events precedes and guarantees their resolution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
Cross-references
- Psalms 2:4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord taunts them.
- Proverbs 1:26 in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
- 1 Samuel 26:10 David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
- Daniel 5:26 And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
- Ezekiel 21:25 And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’
- Ezekiel 21:29 while they offer false visions for you and lying divinations about you—to be placed on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.
- Job 18:20 Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.
- Jeremiah 50:27 Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.