“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” -Psalm 37:1–2
The structure of Psalm 37 is an acrostic in the Hebrew, but the English translation and versification veils this property somewhat. The parallelisms are not hidden, however.
The parallelism of fret not and be not envious refer to being provoked either to anger (Heb., don’t get heated) or to envy (Heb., provoked to jealousy). The provokers, evildoers and wrongdoers, are revealed in parallel fashion as well, and are obviously meant to be synonymous.
This is a wisdom Psalm and so the instruction to fret not yourself and be not envious are directed at human beings rather than a prayer directed at God. This wisdom is also repeated in Proverbs 24:19: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked.” Derek Kidner suggests Psalm 37 is the finest exposition of the third beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” -Matthew 5:5. He seems to be on to something.
Of additional interest is the fact that the evildoers/wrongdoers are the indirect objects of the provocation. It is true they are sinful and indignant, but the verb fret is intransitive and so the subject is also the object: fret not yourself. Don’t do this to yourself.
Instead of allowing ourselves to be provoked by their sinfulness, all we have to do is wait on the Lord and look ahead. Soon they will fade like garden flowers in wintertime. Verse 10 repeats the exhortation in similar fashion: “In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.”