God Who Judges the Earth
To the choirmaster: according to (A)Do Not Destroy. A (B)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 (C)deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are (D)estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 (E)They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it (F)does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, (G)break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7 Let them (H)vanish like water that runs away;
when he (I)aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8 Let them be like the snail (J)that dissolves into slime,
like (K)the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of (L)thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he (M)sweep them away![c]
10 (N)The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will (O)bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is (P)a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who (Q)judges on earth.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 58:1 Or mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
- Psalm 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
Cross references
- Psalm 58:1 : See Ps. 57, title
- Psalm 58:1 : See Ps. 16, title
- Psalm 58:2 : [Ps. 94:20]
- Psalm 58:3 : Ps. 51:5; Isa. 48:8
- Psalm 58:4 : Ps. 140:3; [Deut. 32:33]
- Psalm 58:5 : Jer. 8:17
- Psalm 58:6 : Ps. 3:7; Job 4:10; 29:17
- Psalm 58:7 : Ps. 112:10; Josh. 7:5
- Psalm 58:7 : Ps. 64:3
- Psalm 58:8 : [See ver. 7 above]; Ps. 112:10; Josh. 7:5
- Psalm 58:8 : See Job 3:16
- Psalm 58:9 : Ps. 118:12; Eccles. 7:6
- Psalm 58:9 : [Job 27:21; See Prov. 10:25]
- Psalm 58:10 : Deut. 32:43; See Job 22:19
- Psalm 58:10 : Ps. 68:23
- Psalm 58:11 : Isa. 3:10
- Psalm 58:11 : Ps. 67:4; 94:2; Gen. 18:25; Job 19:29; Eccles. 12:14