Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G Messagethat when the wicked spring up like grass and all who do evil seem to flourish, they are only ripening for eternal ruin.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.Gthat though the wicked blossom like grass and all workers of iniquity burst into bloom—it is for their everlasting destruction.
KJV
King James VersionWhen the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
BSB
Berean Standard Biblethat though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
Footnotes
The verb *bifroach* (to blossom, break out in bloom) is the same used of spring vegetation—the imagery is of sudden, vivid, seemingly glorious growth. But the infinitive *le-hishamdam* ('to be destroyed') is grammatically purposive: the flourishing is oriented *toward* ruin. The psalmist does not merely say the wicked *will* be destroyed after they flourish—he says their very blossoming *is* the process of their destruction. This is precisely the mystery the fool of v.6 cannot see but which the wise perceive. The contrast with the righteous palm and cedar (v.12) could not be sharper.