Psalms 37:27

Once more the teacher addresses his disciple, as in Psalms 37:3 ff. The first line is identical with Psalms 34:14 a(see note): the second line is virtually a promise, and might be rendered so shall thou dwell&c. But as Delitzsch observes, the imperative retains its force in constructions of this type, as an exhortation to participate in the blessing by the fulfilment of the duty. Peaceable occupation of the land by successive generations is meant (cp. Psalms 37:29). The individual lives on in his descendants.

28 a. Cp. Psalms 33:5. For saintssee note on Psalms 4:3.

28 c, d, 29. Stanza of Ayin. The verses are wrongly divided. It is evident from the regular structure of the Psalm that the last two lines of Psalms 37:28 together with Psalms 37:29 should form a stanza commencing with the letter Ayin. If the Massoretic text is sound, the Ayinis represented by the second letter of the word l"ôlâm, -for ever", the prefixed preposition lbeing disregarded, as is the prefixed andin Psalms 37:39. But a comparison of the LXX makes it all but certain that the first word of the verse has been lost, and a further corruption taken place in consequence [14]; and that the original reading was:

[14] The LXX reads thus: εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα φυλαχθήσονται· ἄνομοι δὲ ἐκδιωχθήσονται (א B ἄμωμοι ἐκδικηθήσονται), καὶ σπέρμα ἀσεβων ἐξολοθρευθήσεται, -They shall be preserved for ever; but the lawless shall be driven out (א B, the perfect shall be avenged), and the seed of the ungodly shall be destroyed." The reading of the Sinaitic and Vatican MSS. appears to be a correction or corruption, and must be abandoned in favour of that found in (apparently) all other MSS., and supported by the Vulg., iniusti punientur. We have then the words ἄνομοι δὲ ἐκδιωχθήσονται, but the lawless shall be driven out, in addition to a rendering of the Massoretic text. These words might represent an original עַוָּלִים נִשְׁמְדוּ If the original reading (written defectively) was עולם לעלם נשמדו the unrighteous are destroyed for ever, the process of corruption is easily intelligible. עולם was omitted, either accidentally, from its resemblance to לעלם, or because the transcriber did not recognise a somewhat rare word, and supposed it to be an erroneous repetition. When once it had disappeared, the change of נשמִדו (destroyed) into נשמִרו (preserved) followed as a matter of course, -his saints" in the preceding line being the only possible subject. The word עַוָּלִים does not occur elsewhere in the Psalter, but is found four times in the Book of Job, with which this Psalm is so closely connected. Cp. too the substantive עַוְלָה in Psalms 37:1. A case like this, in which the acrostic structure of the Psalm demands a correction for which the LXX supplies clear evidence, is a convincing argument for the temperate employment of the LXX for the correction of the Massoretic Text. This or some similar correction is adopted by most editors.

The unrighteous are destroyed for ever,

And the seed of the wicked is cut off.

With this reading a full stop must of course be placed after saints, and the couplet forms the antithesis to Psalms 37:29. The perfect tenses, as in Psalms 37:20 c, express the Psalmist's conviction of the certainty of the event. Cp. Psalms 37:38. The addition in the P.B.V., the unrighteous shall be punished, comes from the LXX through the Vulgate. See note below.