Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 37:9

"For evil-doers shall be cut off; But those that wait for Jehovah, they shall inherit the land." — Psalms 37:9 (ASV)

For evil-doers shall be cut off - . This will be the end of their course. They will not ultimately prosper. God will order all things in equity, and though such men now seem to be prosperous, and to be the objects of divine favor, yet all this is temporary. The day of retribution will certainly come, and they will be dealt with as they deserve. The reference here probably is to judgment in this life, or to the fact that God will, as a general law, show His disapproval of the course of the wicked by judgments inflicted on them in this world. , Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. (Proverbs 10:27), the years of the wicked shall be shortened. .

The idea here is that wicked men will be cut down before they reach the ordinary term of human life, or before they would be cut off if they were not wicked. . This is not indeed universally true, but there are instances enough of this kind to establish it as a general rule.

Intemperance, voluptuousness, the indulgence of violent passions, and the crimes resulting from them, shorten the lives of multitudes who, but for these, might have lived long on the earth. As it is a general rule that virtue, piety, the fear of God, temperance, honesty, and the calmness of spirit which results from these, tend to lengthen out life, so it is certain that the opposites of these tend to abridge it. Neither virtue nor piety indeed make it absolutely certain that a man will live to be old; but vice and crime make it morally certain that he will not.

At all events, it is true that the wicked are to live but a little while upon the earth; that they soon will, like other men, be cut down and removed; and therefore we should not fret and complain concerning those who are so soon to pass away. .

But those that wait upon the Lord - The pious; they who fear God and serve him.

They shall inherit the earth - (Compare the notes at Psalm 37:3). See also Psalm 37:11, Psalms 37:22, Psalms 37:25.