Psalms 139:21
in Psalms 139Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Do not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
KJV
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
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This verse in Psalms 139
Commentary
12 notes on this verseYet, it is not hard for us, if we wish it, to take up a love for justice and a hatred for iniquity. God has advantageously given all power to the rational soul, as that of loving, so also that of hating, in order that, guided by reason, we may love virtue but hate vice. It is possible at times to use hatred even praiseworthily. "Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated you and pined away because of your enemies? I have hated them with a perfect hatred."
This site's exposition
that You would slay the wicked
on Psalms 139:19-22
The psalm asks God to slay the wicked and tells the bloodthirsty to keep away. The charge is that they speak deceitfully and take His name in vain, and the man who asked to be searched calls his hatred perfect. He counts them his enemies.
This site's exposition
Do I not hate those
The question expects yes, and the answer comes in verse 22. The measure is God's cause, since those hated are the ones who hate the LORD and rise against Him. Psalm 119:158 speaks of the same loathing for the faithless who ignore God's word.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
I also ask and beg of you to expound for me what [Paul] says to the Romans, for I admit I have very poor sight for this opinion of the apostle about the Jews, where he says, "As concerning the gospel, indeed they are enemies …
And then He tells what meanwhile, during this whole time when He already has risen, and remains still with the Father, He suffers by the intermixture of sinners in His Body, the Church, and by the separation of heretics. "If Thou, O God, shall slay the sinners (since You shall say in Your thought, Depart from Me, you men of blood), they shall receive in vanity their cities" (ver. 19-20). The words seem to be connected in this order; "If Thou, O God, shall slay the sinners, they shall receive in vanity their cities." Thus are sinners slain, because, "having their understandings darkened, they are alienated from the life of God." [Ephesians 4:18] For on account of elation they lose confession, and so they are slain, and in them is fulfilled what Scripture says, "Confession perishes from the dead, as from one that is not." [Sirach 17:28] And so "they receive in vanity their cities," that is, their vain peoples, who follow their vanity; when, puffed up by the name of righteousness, they persuade men to burst the bond of unity, and blindly and ignorantly follow them, as being more righteous....But now the Body of Christ, the Church, says, Why do the proud speak falsely against me, as though I were stained by other men's sins, and so, by separating themselves, "receive in vanity their cities"? "Have not I hated those who hated You, Lord?" [Psalm 139:21]. Why do those who are worse themselves require of me to separate myself in body as well as spirit from the wicked, so as to root up the wheat, together with the tares, before the time of harvest, that before the time of winnowing I lose my power of enduring the chaff; that before all the different sorts of fishes are brought to the end of the world, as to the shore, to be separated, I tear the nets of peace and unity? Are the sacraments which I receive, those of evil men? […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 50 · Written before 1153.
proposed
Now indeed your neighbor, whom you are truly bound to love as yourself, that he too may savor to you as he is, will surely savor to you no differently than you to yourself, who is what you are: for he is a man. You …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee, grieved to see their rebellion and to foresee their ruin, which it will certainly end in?" Note, Sin is hated, and sinners are lamented, by all that fear God. " I hate them " (that is, " I hate the work of them that turn aside, " as he explains himself, Ps. ci. 3 ) " with a sincere and perfect hatred;
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?....
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? He was a good hater, for he hated only those who hated good. Of this hatred he is not ashamed, but he sets it forth as a virtue to which he would have the Lord bear testimony. To love all men with benevolence is our duty; but to love any wicked man with complacency would be a crime.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? He was a good hater, for he hated only those who hated good. Of this hatred he is not ashamed, but he sets it forth as a virtue to which he would have the Lord bear testimony. To love all men with benevolence is our duty; but to love any wicked man with complacency would be a crime. To hate a man for his own sake, or for any evil done to us, would be wrong; but to hate a man because he is the foe of all goodness and the enemy of all righteousness, is nothing more nor less than an obligation. The more we love God the more indignant shall we grow with those who refuse him their affection. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha." Truly, "jealousy is cruel as the grave." The loyal subject must not be friendly to the traitor. And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? He appeals to heaven that he took no pleasure in those who rebelled against the Lord; but, on the contrary, he was made to mourn by a sight of their ill behaviour. Since God is everywhere, he knows our feelings towards the profane and ungodly, and he knows that so far from approving such characters the very sight of them is grievous to our eyes.
Do not I hate them - I hold their conduct in abomination.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? - This is in the consciousness of the psalmist a proof of his own real piety, as derived from his feelings toward those who were the enemies of God. The word hate here, as applied to them, must be understood in the sense that he disapproved of their conduct; that he did not desire to be associated with them; that he wished to avoid their society, and to find his friends among men of a different character. See the notes at Psa 1:1. Compare Isa 5:5. And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? - The expression here - “grieved” - explains the meaning of the word “hate” in the former member of the verse. It is not that hatred which is followed by malignity or ill-will; it is that which is accompanied with grief - pain of heart - pity - sorrow. So the Saviour looked on people: Mar 3:5: “And when he had looked round about on them with “anger,” being “grieved” for the hardness of their hearts.” The Hebrew word used here, however, contains “also” the idea of being disgusted with; of loathing; of nauseating. See the notes at Psa 119:158. The feeling referred to is anger - conscious disgust - at such conduct; and grief, pain, sorrow, that people should evince such feelings toward their Maker.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלֽוֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ | mesaneikha | [those who] hate you | H8130 → | 146 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה׀ | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶשְׂנָ֑א | ʾesna' | do I hate | H8130 → | 146 times |
| וּ֝בִתְקוֹמְמֶ֗יךָ | uvitkomeicha | and <in> rebels your | H8618 → | |
| אֶתְקוֹטָֽט׃ | ʾetkotat | do I loathe? | H6962 → | 6 times |
הֲלֽוֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ[those who] hate you
mesaneikhaH8130 →146 times
יְהוָ֥ה׀O Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶשְׂנָ֑אdo I hate
ʾesna'H8130 →146 times
וּ֝בִתְקוֹמְמֶ֗יךָand <in> rebels your
uvitkomeichaH8618 →
אֶתְקוֹטָֽט׃do I loathe?
ʾetkotatH6962 →6 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 2:2I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- 2 Peter 2:1–3
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21
but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.
- 2 Corinthians 11:13–15
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- Revelation 3:8
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not…
- 1 John 4:1
Through
2 Chronicles 19:2Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of…
it leads to
- Psalms 139:21–22
Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 139:21–22
Through
Psalms 31:6I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.
it leads to
- Jonah 2:8
Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
- Jonah 2:8
Through
Psalms 26:5I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.
it leads to
- Psalms 31:6
I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.
- Psalms 31:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 139; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 17:8; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 50; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Paulinus of Nola, LETTER 121.