Psalm - 37:40



40 Yahweh helps them, and rescues them. He rescues them from the wicked, and saves them, Because they have taken refuge in him. A Psalm by David, for a memorial.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Psalm 37:40.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
And Jehovah helpeth them, and rescueth them; He rescueth them from the wicked, and saveth them, Because they have taken refuge in him.
And the Lord will help them and deliver them : and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.
And Jehovah doth help them and deliver them, He delivereth them from the wicked, And saveth them, Because they trusted in Him!
And the Lord will be their help, and keep them safe: he will take them out of the hands of the evil-doers, and be their saviour, because they had faith in him.
And the LORD helpeth them, and delivereth them; He delivereth them from the wicked, and saveth them, because they have taken refuge in Him.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And the Lord shall help them - He will interpose to defend them when they are in danger and in trouble.
And deliver them - Rescue them from their dangers, and from the power of the wicked.
He shall deliver them from the wicked - From all the attempts of the wicked to destroy them.
And save them - Or, preserve them. He will keep them to everlasting life.
Because they trust in him - They rely on him, and not on themselves. This verse is a summing up of the sentiments of the psalm, and is designed to confirm the main thought which runs through it, to wit, that we should not fret, or complain, or repine at the prosperity of wicked men, Psalm 37:1. The reason ultimately assigned for this is, that whatever may be the danger of the righteous from the designs of wicked men, they will in the end be safe. It will go well with them, for the Lord will keep them. The general course of thought in the psalm is, that, whatever prosperity the wicked now have, it is temporary, for they will soon be cut off; and that whatever troubles now come upon the righteous, they too are temporary, and that their "hereafter" - "their futurity" - will be blessedness and peace. There is a moral government: God is the friend of the righteous; along the path of the present life there are proofs that he is so, and beyond the present life he will show himself to be so in their eternal peace.
He is the enemy of the wicked; there are evidences in the present life that he is so, and this will be fully and finally manifested in their destruction in the future world. The argument in the psalm, indeed, is mainly drawn from the "present life," from what there is to encourage virtue and goodness in the blessings which religion scatters on earth, and by the peaceful termination of the course - as well as from what there is to discourage wickedness and vice, in the fact that the wicked will be cut down and pass away. The argument is, that if this life were all, there are encouragements here to virtue and goodness. In Ps. 73, which in some respects resembles this psalm, the argument which satisfied the mind of the troubled psalmist - troubled at the prosperity of the wicked - is drawn mainly from the future world. Here it is drawn chiefly from the present life; and the main thought here - the practical lesson from the psalm - is, that even with reference to the life that now is - to its security, to its peace, to its blessedness, and to its happy close - it is an advantage to be righteous. It is better to have God for our friend in life, and our support in death, than to have all the external prosperity of wicked men.

The Lord - shall deliver them - For they are always exposed to trials, and liable to fall.
Because they trust in him - They keep faith, prayer, love, and obedience in continual exercise. They continue to believe in, love, and obey God; and he continues to save them.

And the Lord shall help them,.... In their distress, and out of their troubles, when none else can, and they themselves cannot; and that seasonably, and sometimes with means, and sometimes without;
and deliver them; out of all their afflictions, which he does sooner or later; if not in life, yet at death;
he shall deliver them from the wicked; this is repeated both for confirmation and explanation sake, showing who they are the Lord will deliver his people from, even from wicked and unreasonable men; he will not leave them in their hands now to do with them as they shall think fit; and he will free them from them to all eternity in the other world, where they shall cease from giving them any trouble;
and save them, because they trust in him; not that there is any saving virtue in faith, or in trusting in the Lord; the saving virtue is in the Lord, the object of faith and trust; but inasmuch as the Lord has appointed salvation to be through faith, or has made that the means of receiving and enjoying salvation, and the blessings of it, and has declared that he that believeth shall be saved, he does accordingly save all such persons; wherefore blessed are they that trust in him. The Chaldee paraphrase is,
"he shall redeem them because they trust in his Word.''

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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