hāt, hā´tred (verb, שׂנא, sānē’, “oftenest,” שׂטם, sāṭam, [Gen 27:41], etc.; noun, שׂנאה, sin’āh; μισέω, miséō): A feeling of strong antagonism and dislike, generally malevolent and prompting to injury (the opposite of love); sometimes born of moral resentment. Alike in the Old Testament and New Testament, hate of the malevolent sort is unsparingly condemned ([Num 35:20]; [Psa 109:5]; [Pro 10:12]; [Tit 3:3]; [1Jn 3:15]), but in the Old Testament hatred of evil and evil-doers, purged of personal malice, is commended ([Psa 97:10]; [Psa 101:3]; [Psa 139:21], [Psa 139:22], etc.). The New Testament law softens this feeling as regards persons, bringing it under the higher law of love ([Mat 5:43], [Mat 5:14]; compare [Rom 12:17-21]), while intensifying the hatred of evil ([Jud 1:23]; [Rev 2:6]). God himself is hated by the wicked ([Exo 20:5]; [Psa 139:21]; compare [Rom 8:7]). Sometimes, however, the word “hate” is used hyperbolically in a relative sense to express only the strong preference of one to another. God loved Jacob, but hated Esau ([Mal 1:3]; [Rom 9:13]); father and mother are to be hated in comparison with Christ ([Luk 14:26]; compare [Mat 10:37]). See ENMITY.
