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Selected Verse: Psalms 139:21 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 139:21	King James	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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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
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.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

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.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Do not I hate them - I hold their conduct in abomination.

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¹⁵⁸ I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.

⁵ And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

⁵ And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

¹ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.