A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. God commands tender care even for brutes (Deuteronomy 25:4; Leviticus 22:28). We are to give rest, refreshment, and medicine to the beast, according as it requires it; and are not to be cruel to it, much less to man.
But the tender mercies (literally, bowels) of the wicked are cruel - not only, to 'beasts,' but, still worse, to men. "Cruel" is singular; implying that each one of their "tender mercies" is cruel. Not only their cruelties, but their very mercies are cruel: as Pharaoh when he offered to let the people go, but without their herds; and the Jewish council and Gamaliel, when they ordered the apostles only to be "beaten" (Acts 5:40), though innocent; and as those who give alms to the poor with contumely.