The above rendering of Psalm 37:29 is from the King James Version. As is true of many other versions, it renders the Hebrew ‘eʹrets as “land.” ‘Eʹrets can refer to a distinct region or to the territory of a nation, such as “the land of Shinar” or “the land of Egypt.”​—Genesis 10:10, 11; 21:21; Psalm 78:12; Jeremiah 25:20.

However, there is no Scriptural reason to limit ‘eʹrets at Psalm 37:11, 29 to just the land given to the Israelites.

According to A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Gesenius, Brown, Driver, and Briggs; 1951) ‘eʹrets means: “1. a. earth, whole earth ([as opposed] to a part) . . . b. earth, [as opposed] to heaven, sky . . . c. earth=inhabitants of earth . . . 2. land=a. country, territory . . . b. district, region . . . 3. a. ground, surface of ground . . . b. soil, as productive.” Old Testament Word Studies by William Wilson says of ‘eʹrets: “The earth in the largest sense, both the habitable and uninhabitable parts; with some accompanying word of limitation, it is used of some portion of the earth’s surface, a land or country.” So the first and primary meaning of the Hebrew word is our planet, or globe, the earth.

Significantly, when Psalm 37:11, 29 was translated into Greek in the Septuagint, the Hebrew ‘eʹrets was rendered by the Greek ge, which “denotes earth as arable land or soil.” Ge is the word that is used in Jesus’ significant prophecy at Matthew 5:5: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.”