Vengeance belongeth unto me The Scripture warrant adduced in support of this stern language is Deuteronomy 32:35, and a similar phrase ("O God, to whom vengeance belongeth") is used in Psalms 94:1-2. It is remarkable that the citation does not agree either with the Hebrew or the LXX., but is quoted in the same form as in Romans 12:19, where however the application is quite different, for it is there used as an argument against avenging our own wrongs. The writer of this Epistle, as a friend of St Paul and one who was of his school, may have been familiar with this form of the quotation, or may have read it in the Epistle to the Romans, with which he seems to have been familiar (comp. Hebrews 13:1-6 with Romans 12:1-21); and indeed there are traces that the quotation in this form was known in the Jewish schools. Perhaps it had become proverbial.

saith the Lord The words are omitted in א, D, and most ancient versions, and may have been added from Romans 12:19.

And again Deuteronomy 32:36.

The Lord shall judge his people In the original passage the "judgment" consists in saving His people from their enemies, as also in Psalms 135:14.

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