Psalms 37:20

As the fat of lambs. Heb. kiqar karim, the meaning of which is not clear. Yaqar is, literally, “preciousness.” The idea of “fat” is derived from the observation that the precious parts of lambs are the fat parts. Karim may also be translated “pastures,” as in Isa. 30:23. Hence many translate the phrase “as the excellency of the pastures,” a not inappropriate symbol in a land where rich pasturage was consumed by the summer heat. Some suggest a slight change in vowel pointing, and a change from an r to a d, two letters easily confused in the Hebrew. This results in the translation, “like the burning of furnaces.” The LXX has a very different reading, rendering the second part of the verse, “and the enemies of the Lord at the moment of their being honored and exalted have utterly vanished like smoke.”

Into smoke. See Ps. 102:3.