Psalms 58

General context

The speaker asks a congregation, the sons of men, whether they really speak righteousness and judge uprightly, and answers that in heart they work wickedness and weigh out the violence of their hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb and go astray from birth, speaking lies; their poison is like a serpent's, and they are like the deaf adder that stops her ear and will not listen to charmers however wise. He asks God to break their teeth in their mouth and the great teeth of the young lions, to let them melt away like running water and be cut in pieces when he bends his bow, to pass away like a melting snail and like the untimely birth of a woman that never sees the sun. Before their pots can feel the thorns, God will take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath. The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance and wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that a man will say there is truly a reward for the righteous and truly a God who judges in the earth.

Cited passages: Psalms 58:1, Psalms 58:2, Psalms 58:3, Psalms 58:4, Psalms 58:5, Psalms 58:6, Psalms 58:7, Psalms 58:8, Psalms 58:9, Psalms 58:10, Psalms 58:11

Psalms 58 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The text as printed here carries no heading; verse 1 opens with "Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?", so this source names no author, occasion or musical direction. The speaker addresses a group called "O congregation" and "O ye sons of men" in verses 1 and 2, speaks of "the wicked" in the third person in verses 3 to 5, addresses God in verses 6 to 8, and returns to "your pots" in verse 9. Who the congregation are, and whether they are the same as "the wicked", is not stated; the text charges them with judging and with violence but names no court, city or case. The claim that the wicked "go astray as soon as they be born" is the speaker's statement, not a narrated event. The verse 9 image of pots and thorns is compressed and the text does not explain it. The psalm's violence is explicit: broken teeth, an untimely birth, and the righteous washing "his feet in the blood of the wicked"; nothing in the text softens these wishes, and the closing verse gives them as the ground for saying "he is a God that judgeth in the earth". There is no Selah.

Cited passages: Psalms 58:1, Psalms 58:2, Psalms 58:3, Psalms 58:9, Psalms 58:10, Psalms 58:11

Literary context

The poem opens with a question that expects the answer no, "Do ye indeed speak righteousness", and answers it at once with "Yea, in heart ye work wickedness". Its middle is a run of comparisons, each one an image of something that will not hold or will not hear: a serpent's poison, a deaf adder against a charmer, running water, men cut in pieces as a bow is bent, a melting snail, a birth that never sees the sun, a pot taken away before it feels the thorns. The petitions are framed as mouth against mouth: the wicked speak lies and their poison is in them, and the speaker asks that their teeth be broken. Verse 3 sets the wickedness at birth, and verse 8 wishes them an untimely birth, so the images of origin bracket the curse. The ending shifts from wish to consequence, "So that a man shall say", and the doubled "Verily" answers the doubled question of verse 1. Like Psalm 57 it uses lions and teeth for the enemy, but where that psalm ends in song this one ends in a verdict.

Cited passages: Psalms 58:1, Psalms 58:2, Psalms 58:5, Psalms 58:7, Psalms 58:6, Psalms 58:8, Psalms 58:11, Psalms 57:4

Key moments

1. Do ye judge uprightly? (Psalms 58:1). The speaker asks the congregation whether they really speak righteousness and judge uprightly.
2. Astray from the womb (Psalms 58:3). He says the wicked are estranged from birth and speak lies.
3. The deaf adder (Psalms 58:4). The wicked are like a serpent's poison and a deaf adder that stops her ear.
4. Break their teeth (Psalms 58:6). He asks God to break their teeth and the great teeth of the young lions.
5. Melt like a snail (Psalms 58:8). He wishes them to pass away like a melting snail and an untimely birth.
6. Feet washed in blood (Psalms 58:10). The righteous will rejoice at the vengeance and wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
7. A God that judgeth (Psalms 58:11). A man will conclude that the righteous have a reward and that God judges in the earth.

For reflection

The psalm ends with a man concluding that there is a God who judges in the earth only after the righteous has washed his feet in blood; what does the poem ask a reader to make of a proof of justice that looks like that?

People in this chapter

• David