For the Lord will judge his people
Rule and govern, protect and defend them; plead their cause, and avenge them of their enemies; judge between them, distinguish them by his care and providence, make them visible, so that others shall see the difference between them; especially at the last day, when he will judge them, and, as the righteous Judge, give them the crown of righteousness. Or "though the Lord judges his people" F13; chastises them in a fatherly way, that they may not be condemned with the world;
and,
or "yet" F14;
he will repent himself concerning his servants;
of the evil of affliction he has brought upon them; he will change the course of his providential dealings with them, according to his unchangeable will; and turn their adversity into prosperity, and their mourning into joy: some render it, "he will be entreated for his servants" F15; he will hear prayer on their account, and save them out of their afflictions; or, as others, "he will comfort himself concerning his servants" F16; take pleasure in them and their prosperity, comfort them, and take delight in so doing. The Targum of the whole is,
``for the Lord will judge the judgment of his people by his word, and to his righteous servants will return in his mercies.''