hat, ha'-tred (verb, sane'," oftenest," saTam,
Ge 27:41, etc.; noun, sin'ah; miseo): 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 (
Nu 35:20;
Ps 109:5;
Pr 10:12;
Tit 3:3;
1 Joh 3:15), but in the Old Testament hatred of evil and evil-doers, purged of personal malice, is commended (
Ps 97:10;
101:3;
139:21,
22, etc.). The New Testament law softens this feeling as regards persons, bringing it under the higher law of love (
Mt 5:43,
44; compare
Ro 12:17-21), while intensifying the hatred of evil (
Jude 1:23;
Re 2:6). God himself is hated by the wicked (
Ex 20:5;
Ps 139:21; compare
Ro 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;
Ro 9:13); father and mother are to be hated in comparison with Christ (
Lu 14:26; compare
Mt 10:37).