Psalms 58
58
PSALM 58
Common Meter: 8,6,8,6
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith,
Michtam of David.
1Do ye, O congregation,
indeed speak righteousness?
O ye that are the sons of men,
judge ye with uprightness?
2Yea, ev'n within your very hearts
ye wickedness have done;
And ye the vi'lence of your hands
do weigh the earth upon.
3The wicked men estranged are,
ev'n from the very womb;
They, speaking lies, do stray as soon
as to the world they come.
4Unto a serpent's poison like
their poison doth appear;
Yea, they are like the adder deaf,
that closely stops her ear;
5That so she may not hear the voice
of one that charm her would,
No, not though he most cunning were,
and charm most wisely could.
6Their teeth, O God, within their mouth
break thou in pieces small;
The great teeth break thou out, O Lord,
of these young lions all.
7Let them like waters melt away,
which downward still do flow:
In pieces cut his arrows all,
when he shall bend his bow.
8Like to a snail that melts away,
let each of them be gone;
Like woman's birth untimely, that
they never see the sun.
9He shall them take away before
your pots the thorns can find,
Both living, and in fury great,
as with a stormy wind.
10The righteous, when he vengeance sees,
he shall be joyful then;
The righteous one shall wash his feet
in blood of wicked men.
11So men shall say,
The righteous man
reward shall never miss:
And verily upon the earth
a God to judge there is.
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Psalms 58
58
The Dethroning of Unjust Rulers
1For the leader. Do not destroy.#Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the Psalm was to be sung. A miktam of David.
I
2Do you indeed pronounce justice, O gods;#Gods: the Bible sometimes understands pagan gods to be lesser divine beings who are assigned by Israel’s God to rule the foreign nations. Here they are accused of injustice, permitting the human judges under their patronage to abuse the righteous, cf. Ps 82.
do you judge fairly you children of Adam?#Ps 82:2; Dt 16:19.
3No, you freely engage in crime;
your hands dispense violence to the earth.
II
4The wicked have been corrupt since birth;
liars from the womb, they have gone astray.
5#The image is that of a poisonous snake that is controlled by the voice or piping of its trainer.Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like that of a serpent stopping its ears,#Ps 64:4; 140:3; Rom 3:13.
6So as not to hear the voice of the charmer
or the enchanter with cunning spells.
III
7O God, smash the teeth in their mouths;
break the fangs of these lions, Lord!#Ps 3:7.
8Make them vanish like water flowing away;#Wis 16:29.
trodden down, let them wither like grass.#Ps 37:2.
9Let them dissolve like a snail that oozes away,#A snail that oozes away: empty shells suggested to ancients that snails melted away as they left a slimy trail.
like an untimely birth that never sees the sun.#Jb 3:16.
10Suddenly, like brambles or thistles,
have the whirlwind snatch them away.#Jb 21:18; Hos 13:3; Na 1:10.
11Then the just shall rejoice to see the vengeance
and bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.#Ps 68:24; Is 63:1–6.
12Then people will say:
“Truly there is a reward for the just;
there is a God who is judge on earth!”
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