57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth [it] to heart: and merciful men [are] taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away {a} from the evil [to come].
(a) From the plague that is at hand, and also because God will punish the wicked.
57:1 The righteous - Just and holy men. No man - Few or none. Layeth it to heart - Is duly affected with this sad sign of God's displeasure.
57:1,2 The righteous are delivered from the sting of death, not from the stroke of it. The careless world disregards this. Few lament it as a public loss, and very few notice it as a public warning. They are taken away in compassion, that they may not see the evil, nor share in it, nor be tempted by it. The righteous man, when he dies, enters into peace and rest.
