For the Lord will judge his people,.... Rule and govern, protect and defend them; plead their cause, and avenge them of their enemies; judge between them, distinguish them by his care and providence, make them visible, so that others shall see the difference between them; especially at the last day, when he will judge them, and, as the righteous Judge, give them the crown of righteousness. Or "though the Lord judges his people" (m); chastises them in a fatherly way, that they may not be condemned with the world; and, or "yet" (n); he will repent himself concerning his servants; of the evil of affliction he has brought upon them; he will change the course of his providential dealings with them, according to his unchangeable will; and turn their adversity into prosperity, and their mourning into joy: some render it, "he will be entreated for his servants" (o); he will hear prayer on their account, and save them out of their afflictions; or, as others, "he will comfort himself concerning his servants" (p); take pleasure in them and their prosperity, comfort them, and take delight in so doing. The Targum of the whole is, "for the Lord will judge the judgment of his people by his word, and to his righteous servants will return in his mercies.'' (m) "quod si", Junius & Tremellius; "nam etsi", Piscator. (n) "Tamen", Piscator; "mox", Junius & Tremellius. (o) "deprecabitur", V. L. "sinet se deprecari", Tirinus. (p) "Solatium reportabit", Tigurine version.