What Does Psalm 37:1 Mean in the King James?
A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same root that names envy also names zeal: the verse exposes how easily another person’s wrongdoing can claim your ardent attention.
THE MEANING
Seeing people do wrong can stir distress, then make their path seem desirable. This verse names both reactions and loosens their hold: another person’s crookedness does not set what is worth desiring.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a wrongdoer’s apparent advantage makes their path desirable.
THE ROOT
תְּקַנֵּא
təqannēʾ
GROWS FROM
קנא
q-n-ʾ
To be zealous or jealous, with ardent intensity.
“envious” in this verse is təqannēʾ. The same root names jealousy and zeal, so envy here is more than a passing wish for what someone has. It is ardent attention fixed on the wrongdoer’s lot.
ALSO GROWS
qinʾāh: Jealousy; zeal.
קִנְאָה
This noun shows that the root can describe intense attachment as well as envy, giving the warning more depth than simple wanting.
qannāʾ: Jealous; zealous.
קַנָּא
This related form uses the same root for a quality of ardent regard, echoing the intensity behind “envious.”
עֹשֵׂי
ʿōśē
GROWS FROM
עשה
ʿ-ś-h
To do or make; to bring about.
“workers” in this verse is ʿōśē. The phrase names people by what they do: they are makers or doers of crookedness. The verse points to practiced action, not just a hidden label.
ALSO GROWS
maʿăśeh: Deed; work; action.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun preserves the root consonants and makes visible the deed implied by “workers.”
ʿăśiyyāh: Doing; action.
עֲשִׂיָּה
This form carries the same make-and-do root, reinforcing that the verse describes wrongdoing as something enacted.
עַוְלָה
ʿawlāh
GROWS FROM
עול
ʿ-w-l
Crookedness; acting unjustly.
The word translated “iniquity” carries the sense of crookedness or injustice. Beside “workers,” it pictures wrong as a distortion people enact.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāwel: Injustice; wrong.
עָוֶל
This related word names the injustice that the workers enact.
ʿawwāl: An unjust person; a wrongdoer.
עַוָּל
This form names a person through the same crookedness described in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The sight of wrongdoing can stir distress or envy, but it does not have to set the reader’s inner measure.
Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.THE THREAD
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;The Hebrew root behind “envious” is also used in “a jealous God.” Its range includes zeal as well as jealousy, linking envy to an intense orientation of attention and attachment.
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