Psalms 58:2

2 The purposes of your hearts are evil; your hands are full of cruel doings on the earth.

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 Is there righteousness in your mouths, O you gods? are you upright judges, O you sons of men?

2 The purposes of your hearts are evil; your hands are full of cruel doings on the earth.

3 The evil-doers are strange from the first; from the hour of their birth they go out of the true way, saying false words.

4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; they are like the adder, whose ears are shut;

5 Who will not be moved by the voice of the wonder-worker, however great are his powers.