Psalms 37:20

“My soul breaketh for the longing, etc.] His heart was just ready to break, and his soul fainted; he was ready to die, through a vehement desire of enjoying the object longed for, after mentioned; “hope deferred makes the heart sick”, (<201301>Proverbs 13:1,2); the phrase is expressive of the greatness, vehemence, and eagerness of his mind after the thing he desired, which follows: [that it hath] unto thy judgments at all times; not the judgments of God on wicked men, though these are desirable for the glorifying of his justice; nor his dark dispensations of providence, though good men cannot but desire and long for the time when these judgments shall be made manifest: but rather the…”

“While the wicked, however mighty, are destroyed, and that utterly, as smoke which vanishes and leaves no trace.”

“But the wicked shall perish - The general sentiment here is the same as in Psalms 1:1-6, that the righteous shall be prospered and saved, and that the wicked shall perish. See the notes at Psalms 1:4-5. The word “perish” here would be applicable to any form of destruction - death here, or death hereafter - for it is equivalent to the idea that they shall be “destroyed.” Whether the psalmist means here to refer to the fact that they will be cut off from the earth, or will be punished hereafter in the world of woe, cannot be determined from the word itself. It is most probable, as appears from other parts of the psalm, that he refers particularly to the fact that they will be cut down in their…”

“Fat - Which in an instant melts before the fire. Psalms 37:23”

“37:20 Smoke depicts the temporary nature of life (68:2; 102:3).”

“But the: Psa 68:2, Psa 92:9; Jdg 5:31; Luk 13:3, Luk 13:5; Pe2 2:12 as the fat of lambs: Heb. preciousness, That is, as the fat was wholly consumed in sacrifices, by the fire on the altar, so the wicked shall consume away in the fire of God's anger. Deu 33:14-16 smoke: Psa 102:3; Gen 19:28; Lev 3:3-11, Lev 3:16; Deu 29:20; Heb 12:29 Psalms 37:21”

“With כּי the preceding assertion is confirmed by its opposite (cf. Psa 130:4). כּיקר בּרים forms a fine play in sound; יקר is a substantivized adjective like גּדל ekil evitcejda, Exo 15:16. Instead of בעשׁן, it is not to be read כּעשׁן, Hos 13:3; the ב is secured by Psa 102:4; Psa 78:33. The idea is, that they vanish into smoke, i.e., are resolved into it, or also, that they vanish in the manner of smoke, which is first thick, but then becomes thinner and thinner till it disappears (Rosenm׬ller, Hupfeld, Hitzig); both expressions are admissible as to fact and as to the language, and the latter is commended by בּהבל, Psa 78:33, cf. בּצלם, Psa 39:7. בעשׁן belongs to the first, regularly…”