“O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.”
The psalmist exhorts all the faithful to love the LORD because God preserves the faithful while repaying the proud with retribution. The imperative to "love the LORD" appears as the natural response to recognizing God's faithfulness. The affirmation that God "preserves" the faithful suggests ongoing protection and maintenance of covenant relationship. The phrase "repays the proud with what they deserve" asserts that arrogance brings judgment. The verse establishes a fundamental pattern: faithfulness brings blessing, while arrogance brings judgment.
Church Fathers on Psalms 31:23
To the end, a psalm of David himself, an ecstasy. 1. To the end a Psalm of David Himself, the Mediator strong of hand in persecutions. For the word ecstasy, which is added to the title, signifies a transport of the mind, which is produced either by a panic, or by some revelation. But in this Psalm the panic of the people of God troubled by the persecution of all the heathen, and by the failing of faith throughout the world, is principally seen. But first the Mediator Himself…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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