Bible Strands
Psalms 37:2
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses Israel, responding to the command not to envy those who do wrong by explaining the inevitable fate of the wicked.
The words — יִמָּ֑לוּ (yi.Ma.lu) means they will wither, and יִבּוֹלֽוּ (yi.bo.Lu) means they will fade, describing the rapid decay of vegetation.
The thread — This image of fleeting prosperity appears in Psalms 92:7, Psalms 90:5, and James 1:10.
Why it lands — It demands that readers reject envy by acknowledging the temporary nature of the wicked's success and anchoring their hope in God's enduring faithfulness.
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
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Cross-references
- Psalms 92:7 that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- Psalms 90:5 You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
- James 1:10 But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Job 14:2 Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
- Psalms 37:35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Job 20:5 the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Psalms 73:17 until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.
- 1 Peter 1:24 For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Psalms 129:5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.