Psalms 34:21

21 Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

Psalms 34:21 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 34:21

Evil shall slay the wicked
Meaning either the evil they designed against the righteous shall return and fall upon their heads, to their own ruin; or the evil of affliction, which to them is the evil of punishment, both here and hereafter, from which they will have no deliverance in the end; though the righteous have from their afflictions, being not properly punishments, but chastisements for sin, and are but for a time; or else the evil of sin, which is the cause of death corporeal and eternal;

and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate;
or "shall be guilty" ^F14; be found so; or "shall be condemned", or "damned", as the Targum renders it. All wicked men hate the righteous, both Jesus Christ the righteous, and his people; and that because they are righteous, and do not run into the same excess of wickedness with them, these will be arraigned at the day of judgment, and will be convicted of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against Christ and his members; and will be pronounced guilty, and will be punished with everlasting destruction.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (wmvay) "rei fiunt", Cocceius; "reatum habebunt", Schmidt; "damnabuntur", Gejerus; "shall be condemned as guilty", Ainsworth.

Psalms 34:21 In-Context

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.