Psalms 58 WBT
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).
1To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2Yes, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked are estranged from their birth: 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 will not hearken 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 LORD.
7Let them melt away as waters [which] run continually: [when] he bendeth [his bow to shoot] his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8As a snail [which] melteth, let [every one of them] pass away: [like] the untimely birth of a woman, [that] they may not see the sun.
9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in [his] wrath.
10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11So that a man shall say, Verily [there is] a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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