Psalm 37  Contemporary English Version

³ Trust the Lord and live right!
The land will be yours,
    and you will be safe.
⁴ Do what the Lord wants,
and he will give you
    your heart's desire.

⁵ Let the Lord lead you
    and trust him to help.
⁶ Then it will be as clear
as the noonday sun
    that you were right.

⁷ Be patient and trust the Lord.
    Don't let it bother you
when all goes well for those
    who do sinful things.
⁸ Don't be angry or furious.
    Anger can lead to sin.
⁹ All sinners will disappear,
but if you trust the Lord,
    the land will be yours.

¹⁰ Sinners will soon disappear,
    never to be found,
^11 (A) but the poor will take the land
    and enjoy a big harvest.

¹² Merciless people make plots
against good people
    and snarl like animals,
¹³ but the Lord laughs and knows
    their time is coming soon.
¹⁴ The wicked kill with swords
and shoot arrows to murder
    the poor and the needy
    and all who do right.
¹⁵ But they will be killed
    by their own swords,
and their arrows
    will be broken.

¹⁶ It is better to live right
and be poor
    than to be sinful and rich.
¹⁷ The wicked will lose all
    of their power,
but the Lord gives strength
    to everyone who is good.

¹⁸ Those who obey the Lord
    are daily in his care,
and what he has given them
    will be theirs forever.
¹⁹ They won't be in trouble
    when times are bad,
and they will have plenty
    when food is scarce.

²⁰ Wicked people are enemies
    of the Lord
and will vanish like smoke
    from a field on fire.

²¹ An evil person borrows
    and never pays back;
a good person is generous
    and never stops giving.
²² Everyone the Lord blesses
    will receive the land;
everyone the Lord curses
    will be destroyed.

²³ If you do what the Lord wants,
he will make certain
    each step you take is sure.
²⁴ The Lord will hold your hand,
and if you stumble,
    you still won't fall.

²⁵ As long as I can remember,
good people have never
    been left helpless,
and their children have never
    gone begging for food.
²⁶ They gladly give and lend,
and their children
    turn out good.

²⁷ If you stop sinning
    and start doing right,
you will keep living
    and be secure forever.
²⁸ The Lord loves justice,
and he won't ever desert
    his faithful people.
He always protects them,
but destroys the children
    of the wicked.
²⁹ God's people will own the land
    and live here forever.

³⁰ Words of wisdom come
when good people speak
    for justice.
³¹ They remember God's teachings,
and they never take
    a wrong step.

³² The wicked try to trap
    and kill good people,
³³ but the Lord is on their side,
and he will defend them
    when they are on trial.

³⁴ Trust the Lord and follow him.
    He will give you the land,
and you will see
    the wicked destroyed.

³⁵ I have seen brutal people
abuse others and grow strong
    like trees in rich soil.^[a]
36 Suddenly they disappeared!
I looked, but they were gone
    and no longer there.

³⁷ Think of the bright future
waiting for all the families
    of honest, innocent,
    and peace-loving people.
³⁸ But not a trace will be left
of the wicked
    or their families.

³⁹ The Lord protects his people,
and they can come to him
    in times of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps his people
and saves them from the wicked
    because they run to him.