Psalms 58

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.

1 [a][b]Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity?
2 No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.
6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!
7 Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
8 May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns— whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.[c]
10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

Cross References 19

  • 1. Psalms 82:2
  • 2. Matthew 15:19
  • 3. Psalms 94:20; Isaiah 10:1; Luke 6:38; Malachi 3:15
  • 4. S Numbers 21:6; Psalms 140:3; Ecclesiastes 10:11
  • 5. Psalms 81:11
  • 6. Ecclesiastes 10:11; Jeremiah 8:17
  • 7. Psalms 3:7
  • 8. S Job 4:10
  • 9. S Leviticus 26:36; S Job 11:16; Joshua 7:5; Psalms 112:10
  • 10. Psalms 11:2; Psalms 57:4; Psalms 64:3
  • 11. Isaiah 13:7
  • 12. S Job 3:16
  • 13. Psalms 118:12; Ecclesiastes 7:6
  • 14. S Job 7:10; S Job 21:18; Proverbs 10:25
  • 15. S Job 22:19
  • 16. Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalms 7:9; Psalms 64:10; Psalms 91:8; Jeremiah 11:20; Romans 12:17-21
  • 17. Psalms 68:23
  • 18. S Genesis 15:1; S Psalms 128:2; Luke 6:23
  • 19. S Genesis 18:25; Psalms 9:8; Psalms 18:20

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12.
  • [b]. Title: Probably a literary or musical term
  • [c]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.

Psalms 58 Commentaries

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