What Does Psalm 37:22 Mean in the King James?

For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

Psalm 37:22 · KJV

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 verse makes blessing a posture that opens into possession of the earth, while curse ends in severance from it.

THE MEANING

The verse holds two outcomes before you now: those blessed by God inherit the earth, while those under curse are cut off. Blessing reaches beyond an inward feeling to belonging in the world; the opposite is severance.

THE ROOT

יִירְשׁוּ

yirshu

GROWS FROM

ירשׁ

Take possession, inherit; in some contexts, dispossess.

“inherit” in this verse is yirshu. The root holds both inheriting and possessing, so this is more than receiving a title or a distant promise: it is coming into a place in the earth. Set beside “cut off,” it makes the verse’s contrast one of inhabiting or being severed.

ALSO GROWS

yarash: To possess or inherit.

יָרַשׁ

This is the root behind “inherit,” making the verse’s promise concrete: the blessed come to possess the earth.

morashah: An inherited possession.

מוֹרָשָׁה

This related form carries inheritance as something held and occupied, not merely imagined.

מְבֹרָכָיו

mevorakhav

GROWS FROM

ברך

Bless; the same consonants also form the word for knee or kneel.

The root links blessing with the posture of the bent knee, bringing a bodily image into what can sound like an abstract label. Here, those blessed by God are bound to a tangible outcome: a place in the earth.

ALSO GROWS

berekh: The knee; the related verb can mean kneel.

בֶּרֶךְ

This branch supplies the bodily image carried alongside blessing in the shared root.

berakhah: A blessing or bestowed favor.

בְּרָכָה

This noun from the same root shows that the verse speaks of blessing as a condition that opens into inheritance.

יִכָּרֵתוּ

yikkaretu

GROWS FROM

כרת

Cut, sever.

“cut off” in this verse is yikkaretu. The Hebrew keeps the image of a cut: the cursed are not merely disadvantaged but severed. The same verb appears in the phrase “cut a covenant,” so the word carries the force of a decisive dividing act.

ALSO GROWS

karat: To cut or sever.

כָּרַת

This is the root action beneath “cut off,” preserving the sharpness of the verse’s outcome.

karat berit: To make a covenant, literally “cut a covenant.”

כָּרַת בְּרִית

This familiar phrase shows the root’s force in a decisive act; here the cut marks severance from the earth.

THE PATTERN

Blessing opens a future of belonging, while curse leads toward loss and severance.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Deuteronomy 30:19 · KJVLife and blessing stand together, as do death and curse, making the verse’s paired outcomes a wider scriptural pattern.

For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 37:9 · KJVThis verse makes the same contrast explicit: inheritance for one group and being cut off for the other.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:5 · KJVThe promise that the blessed inherit the earth appears again, joining blessing to a place in the world.

THE THREAD

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Deuteronomy 4:1 · KJV

The word translated “possess” comes from the same ⁨ירשׁ⁩ (yarash, possess or inherit) root as “inherit” here. That root makes inheritance concrete: it is entering and possessing a place in the earth.

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