Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 37:2
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
2. The grass and the green herb are a common image for what is transient and perishable. See note on Psa 37:20; and cp. Psa 90:5 f.; Psa 103:15 f.; Isa 40:6 ff.
be cut down ] Or, fade. Cp. Job 14:2; Job 18:16 (R.V. marg.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass – As the grass in the field is cut down by the mower; that is, however prosperous they may seem to be now, they are like the grass in the meadow which is so green and luxuriant, but which is soon to fall under the scythe of the mower. Their prosperity is only temporary, for they will soon pass away. The idea in the word rendered soon – meherah – is that of haste or speed: Psa 147:15; Num 16:46; Deu 11:17. The thought is not that it will be done immediately, but that when it occurs it will be a quick and rapid operation – as the grass falls rapidly before the mower.
And wither as the green herb – When it is cut down. That is, not as the dry and stinted shrub that grows in the desert of sand, but like the herb that grows in a garden, or in a marsh, or by the river, that is full of juices, and that needs abundant water to sustain it – like the flag or rush (compare Job 8:11) – and that withers almost instantly when it is cut down. The rapidity with which things wilt is in proportion to the rapidity of their growth, so the prosperity of a sinner is suddenly blasted, and he passes away. Compare Psa 90:5-6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. For they shall soon be cut down] They have their portion in this life; and their enjoyment of it cannot be long, for their breath is but a vapour that speedily vanishes away. They fall before death, as the greensward does before the scythe of the mower.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For their happiness, the matter of thy envy, is but shortlived.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Which in the morning looks green, pretty, and flourishing, and in the evening is cut down, and then fades away; see
Ps 90:5; and so the wicked prosper and flourish for a while, and then they perish with all their honour, riches, and wealth; so that their happiness is a very short lived one, and therefore need not be envied and fretted at.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) For they . . .This inevitable metaphor for the brevity of human life, made still more forcible in an Eastern clime where vegetation is so rapid both in growth and decay, and generally in the Bible applied, without distinction of good or bad, with a mournful sigh over human weakness, becomes here a source of comfort to the godly man.
Green herb.Literally, greenness of herbage.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. They shall soon be cut down A reason why we should not envy their prosperity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 37:2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Ver. 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass ] Faenea quadam felicitate temporaliter florent, as Austin phraseth it, but their felicity is short-lived; this proud grass shall be mowed down ere long, Psa 92:7 , if not sooner, yet at death howsoever, which unto them is but a trapdoor to hell. Envy me not my grapes, said that soldier, I must die for them. So may wicked men say of their present prosperity, which is but like Haman’s banquet before execution.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36, Psa 73:17-20, Psa 90:5, Psa 90:6, Psa 92:7, Psa 129:5-7, Job 20:5-9, Jam 1:10, Jam 1:11, 1Pe 1:24
Reciprocal: Psa 102:4 – withered Psa 129:6 – as the grass Isa 37:27 – as the grass of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
37:2 For they shall soon be {b} cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
(b) For God’s judgment cuts down their state in a moment.