Psalms 58
58
The Dethroning of Unjust Rulers
1For the leader. Do not destroy.#Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the Psalm was to be sung. A miktam of David.
I
2Do you indeed pronounce justice, O gods;#Gods: the Bible sometimes understands pagan gods to be lesser divine beings who are assigned by Israel’s God to rule the foreign nations. Here they are accused of injustice, permitting the human judges under their patronage to abuse the righteous, cf. Ps 82.
do you judge fairly you children of Adam?#Ps 82:2; Dt 16:19.
3No, you freely engage in crime;
your hands dispense violence to the earth.
II
4The wicked have been corrupt since birth;
liars from the womb, they have gone astray.
5#The image is that of a poisonous snake that is controlled by the voice or piping of its trainer.Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like that of a serpent stopping its ears,#Ps 64:4; 140:3; Rom 3:13.
6So as not to hear the voice of the charmer
or the enchanter with cunning spells.
III
7O God, smash the teeth in their mouths;
break the fangs of these lions, Lord!#Ps 3:7.
8Make them vanish like water flowing away;#Wis 16:29.
trodden down, let them wither like grass.#Ps 37:2.
9Let them dissolve like a snail that oozes away,#A snail that oozes away: empty shells suggested to ancients that snails melted away as they left a slimy trail.
like an untimely birth that never sees the sun.#Jb 3:16.
10Suddenly, like brambles or thistles,
have the whirlwind snatch them away.#Jb 21:18; Hos 13:3; Na 1:10.
11Then the just shall rejoice to see the vengeance
and bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.#Ps 68:24; Is 63:1–6.
12Then people will say:
“Truly there is a reward for the just;
there is a God who is judge on earth!”
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Psalms 58: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Psalm 58
58
God Who Judges the Earth
To the choirmaster: according to #See Ps. 57, title Do Not Destroy. A #See Ps. 16, titleMiktam#58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term of David.
1Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?#58:1 Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands #[Ps. 94:20]deal out violence on earth.
3The wicked are #Ps. 51:5; Isa. 48:8estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 #
Ps. 140:3; [Deut. 32:33] They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5so that it #Jer. 8:17does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.
6O God, #Ps. 3:7; Job 4:10; 29:17break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7Let them #Ps. 112:10; Josh. 7:5 vanish like water that runs away;
when he #Ps. 64:3aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8Let them be like the snail #[See ver. 7 above] that dissolves into slime,
like #See Job 3:16the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of #Ps. 118:12; Eccles. 7:6 thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he #[Job 27:21; See Prov. 10:25]sweep them away!#58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
10 #
Deut. 32:43; See Job 22:19 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will #Ps. 68:23bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11Mankind will say, “Surely there is #Isa. 3:10 a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who #Ps. 67:4; 94:2; Gen. 18:25; Job 19:29; Eccles. 12:14judges on earth.”
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