The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
Ver. 5. The Lord trieth the righteous] Or approveth, as James 1:12; he justifieth and accepteth him, as appeareth by the opposition here. The Vulgate rendereth it thus: Deus interrogat iustum et impium, sc. quia per interrogatoria veritas dignoscitur: The Lord interrogateth the just and the wicked, sc. that so he may sift out the truth of things. But neither doth the Hebrew word so signify, nor doth God need any such help.
His soul hateth] i.e. He can in no wise away with; and this is spoken of God after the manner of men, for fury, hatred, and the like affections are not in him. If it could be said of Trajan the emperor, that he neither feared nor hated any man, how much more of God! And if of the tribunal at Zante, much better of God's throne:
Hic locus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat,
Nequitiam, pacem, crimina, iura, bonos.