John Calvin Commentary Psalms 36:12

"There are the workers of iniquity fallen: They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise." — Psalms 36:12 (ASV)

There the workers of iniquity are fallen. Here he derives confidence from his prayer, not doubting that he has already obtained his request. And so we see how the certainty of faith directs the saints to prayer. Besides, even further to confirm his confidence and hope in God, he shows, as it were, by pointing to it with the finger, the certain destruction of the wicked, even though it was still concealed in the future.

In this respect, the adverb there is not superfluous; for while the ungodly boast of their good fortune, and the world applauds them, David perceives by the eye of faith, as if from a watchtower, their destruction, and speaks of it with as much confidence as if he had already seen it realized.

So that we also may attain a similar assurance, let us remember that those who would hasten prematurely the time of God’s vengeance upon the wicked, according to the fervor of their desires, do indeed err, and that we should leave it to the providence of God to determine the time when, in his wisdom, he will rise up to judgment.

When it is said, They are thrust down, the meaning is that they are agitated with doubt and totter as in a slippery place, so that in the midst of their prosperity they have no security. Finally, it is added, that they will fall into utter destruction, so that it can never be expected that they will rise again.