Psalms 58 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Psalm 58

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam¹ of David.

58:1   Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?²
    Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2   No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
    your hands deal out violence on earth.
3   The wicked are estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4   They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5   so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
    or of the cunning enchanter.
6   O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7   Let them vanish like water that runs away;
    when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8   Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9   Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!³
10   The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
    he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11   Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
    surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Footnotes

[1] 58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 58:1 Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
[3] 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain

Commentary

Opposition from the ungodly.

v1-2: David does not describe attacks on himself, but the injustice of leaders, who were attacking the people of the land.

v3-5: His observation is that such people of persistent ungodliness, even from the womb. Human means (as in the snake charmer) cannot change the heart and attitudes of such people.

v6-9: If those people will not repent an change, they will receive God's judgment. David's prayer may seem harsh, but it reflects God's own heart; for the righteous God will truly judge the wicked. David's righteous anger towards the ungodly is because they have lived unrighteously. It is not just that they have attacked him.

v10-11: The response of the righteous, rejoicing that God's righteousness is manifest. See Gen 18.25; this world is manifestly unfair; the wicked are cruel and selfish, and judge unrighteously - how different is our God, who is perfect in righteousness.