Psalm 58

Psalm 57Psalm 59
Index

Psalm 58 English Standard Version (ESV)

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam[a] of David.

58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?[b]
    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![c]

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

Cross references:

  1. Psalm 58:1 : See Ps. 57, title
  2. Psalm 58:1 : See Ps. 16, title
  3. Psalm 58:2 : [Ps. 94:20]
  4. Psalm 58:3 : Ps. 51:5; Isa. 48:8
  5. Psalm 58:4 : Ps. 140:3; [Deut. 32:33]
  6. Psalm 58:5 : Jer. 8:17
  7. Psalm 58:6 : Ps. 3:7; Job 4:10; 29:17
  8. Psalm 58:7 : Ps. 112:10; Josh. 7:5
  9. Psalm 58:7 : Ps. 64:3
  10. Psalm 58:8 : [See ver. 7 above]; Ps. 112:10; Josh. 7:5
  11. Psalm 58:8 : See Job 3:16
  12. Psalm 58:9 : Ps. 118:12; Eccles. 7:6
  13. Psalm 58:9 : [Job 27:21; See Prov. 10:25]
  14. Psalm 58:10 : Deut. 32:43; See Job 22:19
  15. Psalm 58:10 : Ps. 68:23
  16. Psalm 58:11 : Isa. 3:10
  17. Psalm 58:11 : Ps. 67:4; 94:2; Gen. 18:25; Job 19:29; Eccles. 12:14
English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.