Psalms 58:2

2 No, in heart you ¹work unrighteousness; On earth you ²weigh out the violence of your hands.

Psalms 58:2 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 58:2

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness
So far were they from speaking righteousness, and judging uprightly. The heart of man is wickedness itself; it is desperately wicked, and is the shop in which all wickedness is wrought; for sinful acts are committed there as well as by the tongue and hand, as follows. This phrase also denotes their sinning; not with precipitancy, and through surprise; but with premeditation and deliberation; and their doing it heartily, with good will, and with allowance, and their continuance and constant persisting in it;

ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth;
they were guilty of acts of violence and oppression, which, of all men, judges should not be guilty of; whose business it is to plead the cause of the injured and oppressed, to right their wrongs, and to protect and defend them: these they pretended to weigh in the balance of justice and equity, and committed them under a show of righteousness; they decreed unrighteous decrees, and framed mischief by a law; and this they did openly, and everywhere, throughout the whole land.

Psalms 58:2 In-Context

1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

2 No, in heart you work unrighteousness; On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.

4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent; Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

5 So that it does not hear the voice of charmers, Or a skillful caster of spells.

Cross References

• 1. Malachi 3:15
• 2. Psalms 94:20; Isaiah 10:1