Psalms 37 · Verse 35

Psalms 37:35

I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Psalms 37:35, King James Version

Psalms 37:35 in other translations

BSBI have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
WEBI have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
ASVI have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
YLTI have seen the wicked terrible, And spreading as a green native plant,
DARBYI have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading like a green tree in its native soil:
BBEI have seen the evil-doer in great power, covering the earth like a great tree.
WebsterI have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

What does Psalms 37:35 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 37:35-36
35-36. of which a picture is given, under the figure of a flourishing tree (compare Margin), which soon withers.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree - Does not this refer to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and to the vision he had of the great tree which was in the midst of the earth, the head of which reached up to heaven? See Dan 4:10, etc.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 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…

Read the full comment on Psalms 37:34-40 →

Psalms 37:35 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

רָ֭אִיתִיRa.'i.tiI have seenH7200
רָשָׁ֣עra.Sha'a wicked [person]H7563
עָרִ֑יץ'a.RitzruthlessH6184
וּ֝מִתְעָרֶ֗הu.mit.'a.Rehand spreading himselfH6168
כְּאֶזְרָ֥חke.'ez.Rachlike a native treeH249
רַעֲנָֽן\׃ra.'a.NanluxuriantH7488

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 37:35

  • Job 5:3

    I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

  • Psalms 73:3-11

    For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. …

  • Job 21:7-17

    Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. …

  • Ezekiel 31:6-10

    All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. …

  • Isaiah 14:14-19

    I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? …

  • Job 8:13-19

    So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. …

  • Ezekiel 31:18

    To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

  • Esther 5:11

    And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

  • Daniel 4:20-33

    The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
I have.
73:3-11; Es 5:11; Job 5:3; 21:7-17; Isa 14:14-19
a green bay-tree. or, a green tree that groweth in his ownsoil.
Job 8:13-19; Eze 31:6-10,18; Da 4:20-33

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 37:34

    Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

  • Psalms 37:35

    I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

  • Psalms 37:36

    Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Read all of Psalms 37

Psalms 37:35 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Vi yo al impío sumamente ensalzado, y que se extendía como un laurel verde.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		J’ai vu le méchant puissant, et s’étendant comme un arbre vert croissant dans son lieu natal;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich habe einen Gesetzlosen gesehen, der gewaltig war, und der sich ausbreitete wie ein nicht verpflanzter grüner Baum;