What Does Psalms 37:7 Mean?

Verse 7 gives the direct silence-and-wait instruction that is the positive counterpart to verse 1's al-titchar: "Be still before YHWH and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices." The being-still (dom laYHWH, be still/silent toward YHWH: the damam of Psalm 62:1's "my soul waits in silence for God alone" : the active stopping-and-waiting stance of deliberate stillness before YHWH, not the passive silence of defeat but the chosen silence of trust) and the waiting-patiently (vehithollel lo, and wait with hope for him: the hithhophal of waiting-with-hope, the patient expectant waiting that corresponds to verse 5's commitment-and-trust) are the positive emotional practices of verse 7a.

The repeated al-titchar (fret not yourself: verse 1 and verse 7 both use this : the repetition shows it is the psalm's key emotional temptation) is here directed at "the one who prospers in his way" (hamatzliach darko, the one who makes-successful his way: the tzalach/success of the wicked's apparent path-prosperity) and "the man who carries out evil devices" (ish oseh mezimot, the man doing scheming-plans: the same bed-plotting of Psalm 36:4's midnight-devising now apparently succeeding). The sight of wicked-success-and-scheming-paying-off is the specific trigger for the al-titchar.

Psalm 46:10's "be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" is verse 7's dom-laYHWH (be still toward YHWH) with the explicit theological ground: the stillness (verse 7's dom / Psalm 46:10's dom) is grounded in knowing-God's-exaltation. Isaiah 30:15's "in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength" is verse 7's dom-vehitthollel in its prophetic-salvation-context: the dom (stillness) and the hitthollel (waiting with hope) are the quietness-and-trust of Isaiah 30:15 that produces strength rather than the anxious-fretting of verse 1. Hebrews 10:36's "you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised" is verse 7's vehitthollel-lo (wait patiently for him) as the endurance that receives the promise.