Psalm 37:13

The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Shall laugh.—Comp. Psalm 2:4, Note; his day, i.e., the day of trouble or retribution for the wicked, as we see from Psalm 137:7; Job 18:20, etc.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:7-20 Let us be satisfied that God will make all to work for good to us. Let us not discompose ourselves at what we see in this world. A fretful, discontented spirit is open to many temptations. For, in all respects, the little which is allotted to the righteous, is more comfortable and more profitable than the ill-gotten and abused riches of ungodly men. It comes from a hand of special love. God provides plentifully and well, not only for his working servants, but for his waiting servants. They have that which is better than wealth, peace of mind, peace with God, and then peace in God; that peace which the world cannot give, and which the world cannot have. God knows the believer's days. Not one day's work shall go unrewarded. Their time on earth is reckoned by days, which will soon be numbered; but heavenly happiness shall be for ever. This will be a real support to believers in evil times. Those that rest on the Rock of ages, have no reason to envy the wicked the support of their broken reeds.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord shall laugh at him - See the notes at Psalm 2:4. That is, he will regard all his attempts as vain - as not worthy of serious thought or care. The language is that which we use when there is no fear or apprehension felt. It is not that God is unfeeling, or that he is disposed to deride man, but that he regards all such efforts as vain, and as not demanding notice on the ground of anything to be apprehended from them.

For he seeth that his day is coming - The day of his destruction or overthrow. He sees that the wicked man cannot be ultimately successful, but that destruction is coming upon him. There is nothing ultimately to be apprehended from his designs, for his overthrow is certain.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. (Compare Ps 2:4).

seeth—knows certainly.

his day—of punishment, long delayed, shall yet come (Heb 10:37).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Shall laugh at him, i.e. shall despise and deride all their hopes and endeavours against the good, as most vain and foolish.

His day; either,

1. God’s day, which is a usual phrase, as Isaiah 2:12 13:9. Or,

2. His own day, as 1 Samuel 26:10 Ezekiel 21:25,29. Both signify the same thing, the day appointed by God for his punishment or destruction, as Isaiah 9:4 Jeremiah 50:27.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lord shall laugh at him,.... Have him and his plots in derision, confound his schemes, and disappoint him of his designs, bring him into calamity, and laugh at it; see Psalm 2:4;

for he seeth that his day is coming; either the day of the Lord, which he has appointed to judge the world in, and which comes suddenly, at unawares, as a thief in the night, and is known unto the Lord, though to none else; or the day of the wicked man's ruin and destruction, to which he is appointed, and which is the same; and so the Targum is, "the day of his calamity": which the Lord observes is hastening on, when he will be for ever miserable.

Geneva Study Bible

The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Doth laugh (Psalm 2:4 note) … for he hath seen. The punishment of the wicked has been foreseen and foreordained from the first.

his day] The appointed day of retribution and ruin. Cp. Psalm 137:7; Obadiah 1:12; 1 Samuel 26:10; Job 18:20.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - The Lord shall laugh at him (comp. Psalm 2:4; Psalm 59:8; and see the comment on the former passage). For he seeth that his day is coming; i.e. God sees that the day of the wicked man's visitation is approaching (see above, vers. 2, 9, 10; and comp. 1 Samuel 26:10). Psalm 37:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The verb זמם is construed with ל of that which is the object at which the evil devices aim. To gnash the teeth (elsewhere also: with the teeth) is, as in Psalm 35:16, cf. Job 16:9, a gesture of anger, not of mockery, although anger and mockery are usually found together. But the Lord, who regards an assault upon the righteous as an assault upon Himself, laughs (Psalm 2:4) at the enraged schemer; for He, who orders the destinies of men, sees beforehand, with His omniscient insight into the future, his day, i.e., the day of his death (1 Samuel 26:10), of his visitation (Psalm 137:7, Obadiah 1:12, Jeremiah 50:27, Jeremiah 50:31).