Bellarmine on Psalm 96 : Verse 11

Verse 11

You that love the Lord, hate evil: the Lord preserveth the souls of his saints, he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner.

Qui diligitis Dominum, odite malum; custodit Dominus animas sanctorum suorum, de manu peccatoris liberabit eos.

He concludes the Psalm by exhorting God’s people to follow a pure and holy life, for which they will receive a great reward in the here and now but also in the time to come. “You that love the Lord, hate evil.” The holy people of God could not be exhorted with greater brevity nor yet with greater fullness; for when he says “You that love the Lord,” he calls out to all who are truly just; for charity embraces all the virtues: for “For he that loveth (his neighbour,) hath fulfilled the law,[1] love ... is the fulfilling of the law.”[2] The words You that love the Lord, signify: O all ye who truly and not falsely, who not only with your lips but also in your heart, who in the depth of the law and not in its mere appearance, are just  

and holy, fearing God. The words hate evil encompass the very essence of the exhortation, for he does not say flee from evil or turn away from evil, which may be done by an external act; but hate evil, which cannot be accomplished except in the heart. For the heart is the source of all actions, good and bad; for from the heart proceeds the love of the supreme good, thus it is written “For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.”[3] Next, he adds the reward, saying: “The Lord preserveth the souls of his saints, he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner,” that is, the  Lord is a guardian who is faithful, diligent, strong and prudent for those who love Him, and He protects them and delivers them from the power of the wicked, who are generally the enemies of the just. According to the first sense, this promise is fulfilled even in this life, since God frequently saves the physical life of His saints; but He always protects their spiritual life, because it is a far greater benefit; and so the prophet has said: “preserveth the souls.” For He makes it so that “all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.”[4]  But according to the second sense, He will protect the souls of the saints on the last day so that nothing in the enemy’s accusations will harm them: and He will deliver them completely from the hand of the enemy; because after that last sentence, sinners will have no further way to harm the just.

[1] Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. For he that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law. Nemini quidquam debeatis, nisi ut invicem diligatis : qui enim diligit proximum, legem implevit. [Rom. xiii. 8]

[2] The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law. Dilectio proximi malum non operatur. Plenitudo ergo legis est dilectio. [Rom. xiii. 10]

[3] For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. de corde enim exeunt cogitationes malae, homicidia, adulteria, fornicationes, furta, falsa testimonia, blasphemiae : [Matth. xv. 19]

[4] And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints. Scimus autem quoniam diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum, iis qui secundum propositum vocati sunt sancti. [Rom. Viii. 28]

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.