“The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 37:21 Mean?
"The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth." The economic contrast between the wicked and the righteous is simple: the wicked take and don't return. The righteous show mercy and give. One consumes without repaying. The other generates without hoarding. The difference isn't just moral — it's economic.
The "borroweth and payeth not again" (lavah velo yeshallem) describes economic parasitism: the wicked person's financial strategy is consumption without contribution. They take resources from others and never return them. The borrowing is intentional. The non-payment is deliberate. The system is designed to extract without reciprocating.
The righteous person's contrasting behavior — "sheweth mercy and giveth" (chonen venothen — is gracious and gives) — describes economic generosity: not just paying debts but giving beyond obligation. The righteous person doesn't just avoid the wicked's parasitism. They actively generate surplus that flows outward. The financial behavior reflects the spiritual orientation.
Reflection Questions
- 1.In your relationships, are you a borrower (taking without returning) or a giver (flowing mercy outward)?
- 2.How does financial behavior reflect spiritual identity — and what does your handling of money reveal?
- 3.What does the contrast between extracting and generating teach about community health?
- 4.Where are you 'borrowing' — taking someone's time, energy, or trust — without ever repaying?
Devotional
The wicked borrows and doesn't repay. The righteous shows mercy and gives. Two financial philosophies in one verse: one extracts without returning. The other gives without demanding return. One is a drain on the community. The other is a source.
The 'borroweth and payeth not again' is deliberate economic behavior, not temporary hardship: this isn't about someone who can't repay. It's about someone who won't. The wicked person takes what others have — time, money, resources, trust — and never returns it. The borrowing is the strategy. The non-payment is the plan. The relationship exists for extraction.
The 'sheweth mercy and giveth' is the opposite orientation: the righteous person doesn't just avoid being a taker. They actively give. They show mercy — chesed-driven generosity that goes beyond obligation. The righteous person's default is outflow, not inflow. They generate surplus and direct it toward others. The giving isn't calculated. It's characterological.
The verse connects financial behavior to spiritual identity: how you handle money reveals who you are. The wicked person's economic parasitism reflects their spiritual parasitism — they take from God and others without giving back. The righteous person's generosity reflects their spiritual orientation — they receive from God and flow toward others.
Are you a borrower who doesn't repay or a giver who shows mercy — in finances, in relationships, in emotional resources?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For such as be blessed of him,.... Not of the righteous man; for he blesses them that curse and persecute him, and…
The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again - This is probably intended here, not so much to describe the “character” as…
These verses are much to the same purport with the foregoing verses of this psalm, for it is a subject worthy to be…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture