What Does Psalm 37:17 Mean?
For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD props up the aligned.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.THE KEY
The wicked’s strength is headed for fracture, while the LORD is already upholding the aligned.
THE MEANING
The force that seems able to control outcomes can break, but the LORD is the ongoing support of the aligned. When your own strength feels fragile, this verse speaks of a standing that does not depend on your force alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only those with unbroken strength can remain standing. Here, support comes from the LORD’s action, not from the strength of the righteous person’s arms.
THE ROOT
סוֹמֵךְ
somekh
GROWS FROM
סמך
s-m-kh
To lean upon, support, or sustain.
“props up” in this verse is somekh. The LORD is described as actively supporting the righteous, not merely as someone who once gave them strength. The root carries the sense of something bearing weight, making the verse’s support concrete.
ALSO GROWS
samakh: To lean upon or support.
סָמַךְ
This verb makes “upholdeth” more than a title: it describes the act of bearing or resting weight upon something.
vatismechehu: “And it upheld him” (Isaiah 59:16).
וַתִּסְמְכֵהוּ
The same root describes righteousness sustaining a person, echoing the support given to the aligned here.
צַדִּיקִים
tsaddiqim
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Rightness, justice, alignment.
“aligned” in this verse is tsaddiqim. The verse identifies those being upheld by their alignment, not by the strength of their arms. This places their standing in right relation rather than in force.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness or justice.
צֶדֶק
It shows the shared root’s concern with what is rightly ordered, the quality named in “the righteous.”
tzedakah: Justice or right action.
צְדָקָה
It shows alignment reaching into how rightness is lived, not remaining only a label for a person.
THE PATTERN
Visible strength can fail, while true standing comes from God’s support of the aligned.
The bows of the mighty are shattered, and the ones who stumble are belted with strength.The LORD props up all who fall, and straightens all who are bent.Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will be held upright, for God is able to make him stand.THE THREAD
The LORD props up all who fall, and straightens all who are bent.Both verses use the Hebrew root סמך (samakh, to support): Psalm 37 names the LORD as the one upholding the aligned, and Psalm 145 uses the same verb for those who fall. The echo shows support meeting a person at the point where their own strength gives way.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us