Many sorrows [shall be] to the wicked
Who will not be instructed and reformed, but are like the horse
and mule, without understanding; many outward sorrows or
afflictions attend them; loathsome and consuming diseases come
upon their bodies by intemperance and debauchery; and they and
their families are brought to a piece of bread, through their
vicious courses; and inward sorrows, horror and terror of mind,
seize them when their consciences are at any time awakened, and
are open to conviction; when a load of guilt lies on them, what
remorse of conscience they feel! and what severe reflections do
they make! and how are they pierced through with many sorrows!
And though indeed, for the most part, wicked men have their good
things in this life, and are in prosperous circumstances, and are
not in trouble, as other men; yet what they have is with a curse;
and they have no true peace, pleasure, and satisfaction in what
they enjoy; and the curses of a righteous law; and everlasting
destruction is prepared for them in the other world, when they
will have many sorrows indeed; their worm will not die, and the
fire of divine fury will not be quenched; there will be for ever
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul
of man that does evil;
but he that trusteth in the Lord;
not in his wealth and riches, in his wisdom and strength, in
himself, and his own righteousness; for such are wicked persons;
but in the Lord; in his righteousness to justify him, in his
blood to pardon him, in his strength to support him, and in his
grace to supply him with everything necessary for him;
mercy shall compass him about;
not only follow him and overtake him, but surround him; he shall
be crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies: the phrase
denotes the abundance of mercies that shall be bestowed upon him
here and hereafter, as both grace and glory.