Psalms 11:7

For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness,.... The Lord is righteous in himself, and in all his ways and works; and therefore righteousness, as it lies both in punishing the wicked, and in

For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness - (God by His very nature cannot do otherwise than favour the saints and punish sinners.

This is given as the reason why God hateth and punisheth wicked men so dreadfully, because he loves righteousness, and therefore must needs hate wickedness and punish wicked men. Or, but, as this particle is oft rendered; for this seems to be added by way of opposition to what he now said concerning the state of wicked men. His countenance doth behold the upright; to wit, with an eye of approbation, and true and tender affection, and watchful and gracious providence; which is oft signified by God’ s beholding or looking upon men, as 33:18 34:15, &c.: as, on the contrary, God is oft said to hide or turn away his face or eyes from wicked men.

Psalms 11:7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.Ver. 7. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness] sc. As a reflection of himself, as a piece of his own image. This is better than eyes opened, limbs restored, Psalms 146:8. His countenance] Heb. countenances, or their faces, in mystery of the Holy Trinity. Doth behold the upright] With singular delight and complacency ( Vide Vicars in loc.).

(7) His countenance.—Better, the upright shall behold His countenance. This beautiful religious hope finds its highest expression in the beatitude on the pure in heart. The beatific vision in Dante is its most glorious poetical development. By the vision of God the Hebrew poet means triumph of right and the acknowledgment of his innocence—light and peace after darkness and trouble, as in Job 33:26. (Comp. Psalms 17:15; Psalms 41:12.)

Verse 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness] He loves that which resembles himself. His countenance - his face - is ever open and unclouded to the upright. They always enjoy his salvation, and know that he is pleased with them. The preceding verse my old MS. translates and paraphrases thus: - He sal rayne on synful, snares, fyre, brimstane, and gost of stormis. Par. - He sal rayne on synful in this werld, snares, that es wiked Lare: fyre is covatyse: brunstane, that es stynk of il werkes: and gost of stormis, that es a stormy though that es withoutyn rest in Ihesu Crist, and ay es traveld with the wynd of the devel. Or the gast of stormys, es the last depertyng of synful fra ryghtwis men, and there fyre, brunston, storm, er part of the chalyie of thaim: that es, thai ar thair part in pyne. He cals thair pyne a Cop, for ilk dampned man sal drynk of the sorow of Hel, eftir the mesure of hys Syn. Behald the pynes of wikid men: fyrst, God raynes upon thaim snares, that es qwen he suffers fals prophetes that comes in clathing of mekenes; and withinnen er wers than wolves, to desayf thaim thurgh errour. Sythen the fyre of lychery, and covatys wastes al the gude that thai haf done: eftirward for stynk of il werkes that er castyn fra Crist, and al his Halows, and then er in sentence of dome; as in a grete storme, dryven in til a pitte of Hel, to bryn in fyre withoutyn ende. This es the entent of this wers. Ver. 7. For ryghtwis es Lord; and he lufes ryghtwisnes; evennes saw the face of hym] Yf ge ask qwy oure lorde yelded pyne to synful? lo here an answere; for he es rightwis. Als so if ge wil witt qwy he gifes ioy til gude men? Lo here an answere; for he lufed ryghtwisnes: that es, ryghtwis men, in the qwilk er many ryghtwisneses: thof ane be the ryghtwisnes of God, in the qwilk al ryghtwise men or parcenel. Evenes saw his face: that es, evenes es sene in his knawyng inence, both the partys of gud and il. This es ogayne wryches at sais, If God saf me noght, I dar say he es unryghtwis: bot thof thai say it now, qwen he suffris wryched men errour in thought, and worde and dede; thai sal noght be so hardy to speke a worde qwen he comes to dampne thaire errour. Bot who so lufes here and haldes that na unevenes may be in hym, qwam so he dampnes, or qwam so he saves, he sal have thaire myght to stand and to speke gude space. Now er swilk in a wonderful wodenes, that wenes for grete wordes to get ought of God.

7. For Jehovah is righteous; he loveth righteous deeds; The upright shall behold his face. The character of Jehovah is the ground of the judgement which has been described; and the reward of the upright is contrasted with the punishment of the wicked. Righteous deeds may denote the manifestations of Jehovah’s righteousness (Judges 5:11; 1 Samuel 12:7), as well as the righteous acts of men. (Isaiah 33:15); but the context points to the latter meaning here. The A.V. rendering of the second line gives a good sense:—He beholds the upright with favour. The P.B.V. follows the ancient versions in its rendering, ‘will behold the thing that is just.’ But usage and parallel passages are decisive in favour of the rendering of R.V. given above. The wicked are banished and destroyed; but the upright are admitted to the presence of Jehovah, as trusted courtiers to the presence of their sovereign (cp. Psalms 5:4-5; Psalms 15:1; Psalms 17:15; Psalms 140:13); they gaze upon that Face which is the source of light and joy and salvation (Psalms 4:6; Psalms 16:11; Psalms 44:3). It is one of the ‘golden sayings’ of the Psalter, ‘fulfilled’ in the revelation of the Gospel. See Matthew 5:8; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:4.

For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness - This would be more correctly rendered, “For Jehovah is righteous; he loves righteousness.” The idea is, that God is himself righteous, and, consequently,

7. His countenance doth behold the upright—That is, with complaisance and delight, as the verb often signifies.