But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Ver. 22. But the wicked shall be cut off.] Certainly, suddenly, utterly, cum maxime velint vivere, when they have feathered their nests, and set up their rest, and reckon upon long life, as the fool in the Gospel: "God will shoot at them with an arrow suddenly," and fetch them off when they least look for it. The wicked may die sinning. The saints shall not die till the best time - not till that time when, if they were but rightly informed, they would even desire to die.
Shall be rooted out.] Heb., Plucked up, as degenerate plants. Exorientur, sed exurentur. "God shall likewise destroy thee for ever: he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwellingplace, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah." Psa 52:5