Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 37:35

"I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil." — Psalms 37:35 (ASV)

In great power. —Terrible, like a tyrant.

Green bay tree. —The Hebrew word elsewhere implies a “native” as opposed to “a foreigner.” So here an indigenous tree. “It may be questioned whether any particular tree is intended by the psalmist; but if so, it must have been an evergreen, and may possibly be the Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis), which is a native of Palestine. We met with it near Hebron; on Mount Carmel in great plenty; on Tabor, and in various glades of Galilee and Gilead” (Tristram, Natural History of Bible, 338).

The Septuagint and Vulgate, by slightly altering the text, have, as cedars of Lebanon.