Verse 9.—'And the just shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall add strength.' 43. God, who grants temporal goods to the wicked, will not deny eternal goods to the just.—For, considering the hypocrite, the just man holds to his own way; because while he beholds the other, out of a perverse will, obtaining the things that are of the world, he himself is bound the more firmly to the love of heavenly things, knowing that eternal rewards will not be wanting to good desires, since temporal goods are not denied even to depraved and double hearts. Wherefore also with clean hands he adds strength, because, beholding the perverse obtain earthly glory, he advances his own good works to perfection; and he despises temporal things the more loftily, the more he perceives them to abound even to the wicked.
For he considers how despicable are those things which almighty God bestows even upon the perverse. For if they were principally great, the Creator would by no means grant them to His adversaries. Wherefore he judges it unworthy of himself to desire those goods which he beholds to abound even to the wicked, but he directs his mind to the attaining of heavenly things, which cannot be common to him with the reprobate. Therefore, after he had set forth the outward advancements of the wicked, but the inward advancements of the good, he uttered words of exhortation, saying: