The bloodthirsty hate the upright
Cain did Abel; and as the wicked world hate all good men, and
persecute them, even unto death; but the just must seek his
soul;
either the soul of the bloodthirsty, and that either the good of
their souls; seek their spiritual welfare, and pray for it, even
though they are so cruel and inhuman: or just magistrates will
seek after such persons, to punish them for shedding the blood of
the upright. Or else the meaning is, that just persons seek the
soul of the upright, and make inquisition for the blood of such,
to punish for it; which comes to the same sense, as Aben Ezra
observes: or rather, such seek to defend and preserve the soul or
life of upright men from those that hate and persecute them.
Jarchi illustrates it by ( 1 Samuel
22:23 ) ; the Targum is,
``men that shed blood hate integrity; but the upright seek it.''