“And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 37:40 Mean?
The final verse of Psalm 37 is a summary promise with four verbs: help, deliver, deliver, save. The repetition of "deliver" is emphatic — God will get His people out. The reason given is the same one that runs throughout the psalm: "because they trust in him." Trust is the key that unlocks everything.
The phrase "deliver them from the wicked" names the specific threat. This isn't deliverance from impersonal forces or natural disasters — it's deliverance from people who do evil. The enemy is personal, intentional, and malicious. And God's response is equally personal and intentional.
All four verbs are in the future tense: shall help, shall deliver, shall save. The promise is forward-looking. It hasn't happened yet for the reader. It will. The psalm that started by saying "fret not" ends by saying "He shall." Everything between the opening instruction and the closing promise is the work of waiting.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Why does David use four verbs where one would suffice? What does the repetition do for your faith?
- 2.What does the 'because they trust in him' condition mean for your life right now?
- 3.Looking at the arc of Psalm 37 — from 'fret not' to 'He shall save' — where are you in that journey?
- 4.What would it look like to rest in this final promise today?
Devotional
Four verbs. Help. Deliver. Deliver. Save. David piles them up like a lawyer building a case: God will help — and He'll deliver — and He'll deliver again — and He'll save. As if one promise isn't enough, here are four. Because your doubt is strong, and the evidence needs to be stronger.
The entire psalm has been building to this. Don't fret (verse 1). Trust in the LORD (verse 3). Delight in the LORD (verse 4). Commit thy way (verse 5). Rest in the LORD (verse 7). Wait patiently (verse 7). And now the conclusion: He shall help, deliver, deliver, save. Because they trust in Him.
The word "because" is the pivot. God doesn't save randomly or arbitrarily. He saves those who trust. Not those who perform perfectly, not those who never doubt, not those who have their theology sorted — those who trust. The qualifying criterion is the simplest and hardest thing: trust.
Psalm 37 ends where it began: trust versus fret. The whole psalm is an argument for trusting and against fretting. And the closing argument is God's own promise: I will help. I will deliver. I will save. Because you trusted.
After everything — the fretting, the waiting, the watching the wicked prosper — this is the last word. He shall.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And the Lord shall help them - He will interpose to defend them when they are in danger and in trouble. And deliver them…
The psalmist's conclusion of this sermon (for that is the nature of this poem) is of the same purport with the whole,…
And the Lord helpeth them, and rescueth them:
He rescueth them from the wicked, and saveth them,
Because they have…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture