Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Psalms 37:1-40.-The theme is, God will award the righteous and the unrighteous their respective deserts in due time; fret not, then, against, but trust in the Lord, and do good (Psalms 37:1-2). The alphabetical arrangement in the Hebrew connects the loosely-joined sententious savings; these probably were the model copied by Solomon in his Book of Proverbs. David's experience qualified him for solving the difficulty, Why do ungodly men like Saul, Nabal and Absalom, seemingly prosper?
['aleph (')]
Fret (Hebrew, tithchar) not thyself because of evil- doers - literally, 'Inflame not thyself in relation to evil-doers.' Anger is often compared to a fire (Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalms 79:5; Proverbs 24:1; Proverbs 24:19, is plainly copied from this; cf. 3:31; 23:17). The godly are tempted to be angry at the sight of the wicked prospering, and to think they have just cause for anger. David's own feeling was such, when he was a destitute exile, though serving God, and Nabal a man of wealth, though an ungrateful churl (1 Samuel 25:4-34). David's anger was naturally stirred up, and he would have avenged himself, instead of leaving his cause in the Lord's hand, had not God, of His mercy, spoken, by Abigail, the advice which kept him from meeting evil with evil. The precept here, 'Inflame not thyself,' answers to "Cease from anger," Psalms 37:8, and the promise to "the meek," Psalms 37:11,