Psalms 58:6

6 God, smash their teeth to bits, leave them toothless tigers.

Psalms 58:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 58:6

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth
From the description of the wicked, the psalmist passes to imprecations on his enemies; whom he represents as cruel and bloodthirsty, and as being stronger than he; and therefore he applies to God, who could, as he sometimes did, smite his enemies on the cheekbone, and break the teeth of the ungodly; which is done by taking the power and instruments of hurting from them: and it may be by "their teeth in their mouth" may be meant their malicious words, calumnies, and detractions; teeth being the instrument of speech; and by "breaking" them, preventing the mischief designed by them;

break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord:
Saul was the old lion; his princes, nobles, and courtiers, the young ones; whose jaw teeth were as knives to devour David and his men, unless plucked out; or God in his providence should interpose, and hinder the performance of their mischievous and cruel designs; and who could easily destroy them by his blast, and by the breath of his nostrils, ( Job 4:9 Job 4:10 ) .

Psalms 58:6 In-Context

4 Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison, drips from their forked tongues -
5 Deaf to threats, deaf to charm, decades of wax built up in their ears.
6 God, smash their teeth to bits, leave them toothless tigers.
7 Let their lives be buckets of water spilled, all that's left, a damp stain in the sand. Let them be trampled grass worn smooth by the traffic.
8 Let them dissolve into snail slime, be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.