John Calvin Commentary Psalms 31:6

"I hate them that regard lying vanities; But I trust in Jehovah." — Psalms 31:6 (ASV)

I hate all that give heed to lying vanities. To better express that his faith was firmly fixed on God, he affirms that he was free from the vile affections which usually turn away our minds from God, and under which unbelievers for the most part suffer.

For we know that by contrasting things which are opposite, a subject is better illustrated. To restrict the Hebrew word הבל, hebel, which we have rendered vanities, to magical arts, as some interpreters do, is absurd. I confess, indeed, that Eastern peoples were so much addicted to these impostures, that it was a common evil among them.

But as the devices by which Satan ensnares the minds of people, and the allurements by which he draws them away from God, are innumerable, it is not at all probable that the prophet mentions one kind only. Whatever vain hopes, therefore, we form for ourselves, which may draw us away from our confidence in God, David generally calls vanities, indeed, false or lying vanities, because, although they feed us for a time with magnificent promises, in the end they beguile and disappoint us.

He affirms, therefore, that casting away the vanities which people usually invent to support their hopes, he relies solely on God.

And since people not only intoxicate themselves personally with the deceitful allurements of the world, but also deceive one another in this respect, the prophet expressly declares that he hated all who involved themselves in such lies. He makes this declaration so that we may carefully avoid them, unless we wish to be willingly entangled in their dangerous toils.

The second clause, I have trusted in Jehovah, must be read in connection with the first, because it both gives the reason for his hatred of lying vanities, and shows that it is impossible for people to have any true faith in God, unless they abhor whatever would draw them away from him.