Psalms 58 ASV
Summary: An imprecatory psalm aimed at corrupt judges rather than personal enemies, Psalm 58 accuses rulers of judging unjustly and favoring violence "in your hearts" while claiming to weigh things fairly (v. 1-2). It piles up vivid curses, wishing the wicked's teeth broken like a lion's and their lives to melt away like a snail or a stillborn child that never sees the sun (v. 6, 8). It closes with the unsettling claim that the righteous will "rejoice when he sees the vengeance" (v. 10), before affirming that there is, after all, a God who judges on earth (v. 11).
1For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam. Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
5Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, Charming never so wisely.
6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
8Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away, Like the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.
9Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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