Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 97:10

"O ye that love Jehovah, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." — Psalms 97:10 (ASV)

You that love the Lord. —Notwithstanding certain points of similarity between this verse and Psalm 34:10-20, Psalms 37:28, and between Psalm 97:12 and Psalm 32:11, the psalmist shows himself at the close more than a compiler—a true poet.

Hate evil. —It is better to interpret this in the indicative mood, They who love Jehovah, hate evil, in order to avoid the awkward transition in the next clause. This practical test of true religion can never be obsolete. Love of God implies the hatred of all He hates.

A heathen writer has expressed this in a striking way. Philosophy, holding a dialogue with Lucian, is made to say, “To love and to hate, they say, spring from the same source.” To which he replies, “That, O Philosophy, should be best known to you. My business is to hate the bad, and to love and commend the good, and that I stick to.”