But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

PSALMS 37:38KJV
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Psalms 37:38 (KJV)

What does Psalms 37:38 mean?

Psalms 37:38 says that those who persist in wrongdoing will face a shared downfall, and that the future they might expect will be brought to an end. The verse answers the question of whether wicked people’s apparent success will last.

After verse 37 points to the future of the peaceful person, verse 38 turns to a contrasting outcome. The image of being “cut off” pictures a line of life or expectation being abruptly ended.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 37:38

  • “transgressors” — פָּשַׁע (pashaʿ): This word carries the sense of rebelling or breaking away from what is right. Here it describes people by their acts of rebellion.
  • “end” — אַחֲרִית (aḥarit): This word can refer to what comes afterward, including a person’s future. Here the phrase looks beyond the wicked people’s present circumstances to their eventual outcome.
  • “off” — כָּרַת (karat): This word often means to cut down or cut off. Joined with “the end of the wicked,” it gives a sharp picture of a future brought to a stop.

Why Psalms 37:38 matters

  • Present success is not the psalm’s final measure of a person’s outcome. Earlier, verse 35 describes a wicked person flourishing, while verse 38 looks ahead to that person’s end.
  • The verse speaks of a shared outcome for wrongdoers. The word “together” places the transgressors as a group under the same judgment.

Where else these words appear

“transgressors” Hebrew H6586 · used in 37 verses

  • 1 Kings 8:50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:
  • Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
  • Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

“end” Hebrew H319 · used in 60 verses

  • Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
  • Proverbs 14:13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
  • Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

“destroyed” Hebrew H8045 · used in 86 verses

  • Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
  • Deuteronomy 31:3 The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said.
  • Esther 4:8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people.

“together” Hebrew H3162 · used in 139 verses

  • Genesis 13:6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
  • Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
  • Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.