Psalm 37:38

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:34-40 Duty is ours, and we must mind it; but events are God's, we must refer the disposal of them to him. What a striking picture is in ver. 35,36, of many a prosperous enemy of God! But God remarkably blights the projects of the prosperous wicked, especially persecutors. None are perfect in themselves, but believers are so in Christ Jesus. If all the saint's days continue dark and cloudy, his dying day may prove comfortable, and his sun set bright; or, if it should set under a cloud, yet his future state will be everlasting peace. The salvation of the righteous will be the Lord's doing. He will help them to do their duties, to bear their burdens; help them to bear their troubles well, and get good by them, and, in due time, will deliver them out of their troubles. Let sinners then depart from evil, and do good; repent of and forsake sin, and trust in the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. Let them take his yoke upon them, and learn of him, that they may dwell for evermore in heaven. Let us mark the closing scenes of different characters, and always depend on God's mercy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But the transgressors - Sinners; violators of the law of God.

Shall be destroyed together - The word "together" here - יחדּו yachedâh - means properly "a union of them;" then, together - either:

(a) in one place, Genesis 13:6 - or

(b) at one time, Psalm 4:8; or

(c) all as one, Psalm 14:3 - or

(d) mutually with one another, as when men strive together, Deuteronomy 25:11.

The idea here is, that one would be destroyed as well as another; that there would be no exception; that they would go to the same ruin. They might be destroyed at different times, or in different modes, but it would be the same destruction in the end.

The end of the wicked - The future of the wicked. The same word is used here which occurs in Psalm 37:37, as applied to the righteous. The meaning is, that while the "future" of the one would be peace, the future of the other would be a "cutting off," or destruction.

Shall be cut off - That is, they shall be cut off; or, there will be a cutting off. This means here, evidently:

(a) that as an ordinary fact they would be cut down before they had reached the full limit of their course, Psalm 37:35-36;

(b) in the future world they would be cut off from hope and happiness forever.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

38. together—at once; entirely (Ps 4:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Together; or, alike, one as well as another; all, without any exception or respect of persons.

The end of the wicked shall be cut off, i. e. he shall be cut off at last, or in the end. His prosperity shall end in destruction. Or, the posterity (as this word signifies, Psalm 109:13 Jeremiah 31:17 Ezekiel 23:25 Daniel 11:4) of the wicked, &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together,.... This is to be understood of obstinate and continued transgressors, who live and die in their transgressions; see Proverbs 11:3; otherwise all men are transgressors in Adam, and sinned and fell with him in his transgression; and are justly called transgressors from the womb; and are guilty of actual transgressions, nor are any clear from them; and are arraigned, convinced, and judged by the law as transgressors; and for many of these Christ died, and makes intercession; and who are converted, and turned from their transgressions; and these are pardoned, and saved, and not destroyed: but stubborn and perverse transgressors are destroyed; not only with a temporal destruction of their substance, and of their names, and they themselves are rooted out of the earth; but with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power; for this seems to refer to the day of judgment, when all the wicked will be "together"; and shall in a body stand at Christ's left hand, and be bid to go, "ye cursed into everlasting fire", Matthew 25:41, and shall be turned into hell at once, and together;

the end of the wicked shall be cut off; meaning either their posterity, as the word is rendered in Psalm 109:13; or their hope and expectation of good things here and hereafter; when the righteous man receives the end of his faith, hope, and expectation, even the salvation of his soul; but these shall be disappointed and frustrated of their end; see Proverbs 23:18; or their last end is cutting off from the presence and sight of God, utter ruin and destruction; and so it stands opposed to the end of the perfect and upright man, which is eternal peace and happiness.

Geneva Study Bible

But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

38. But transgressors are destroyed together:

The posterity of the wicked is cut off.

Cp. Psalm 37:28; Psalm 109:13; Job 18:13-21. To the Israelite, with his strong sense of the continuity of life in the family, childlessness or the loss of posterity was a virtual annihilation. In the light of N.T. revelation the contrast between the ‘after’ of the righteous and the wicked is still more solemn and significant.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 38. - But the transgressors shall be destroyed together (comp. vers. 2, 9, 10, 15, 20, and 34). The end of the wicked shall be cut off. If achargth be taken to mean "posterity" in the preceding verse, it must be given the same signification here. Psalm 37:38

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

תּם might even be taken as neuter for תּם, and ישׂר for ישׁר; but in this case the poet would have written רעה instead of ראה; שׁמר is therefore used as, e.g., in 1 Samuel 1:12. By כּי that to which attention is specially called is introduced. The man of peace has a totally different lot from the evil-doer who delights in contention and persecution. As the fruit of his love of peace he has אחרית, a future, Proverbs 23:18; Proverbs 24:14, viz., in his posterity, Proverbs 24:20; whereas the apostates are altogether blotted out; not merely they themselves, but even the posterity of the ungodly is cut off, Amos 4:2; Amos 9:1; Ezekiel 23:25. To them remains no posterity to carry forward their name, their אחרית is devoted to destruction (cf. Psalm 109:13 with Numbers 24:20).