Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked.
For the music director; set to [a]Al-tashheth. A [b]Mikhtam of David.
58 Do you indeed [c]speak righteousness, you [d]gods?
Do you (A)judge [e]fairly, you sons of mankind?
2 No, in heart you (B)practice injustice;
On earth you (C)clear a way for the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked have turned away (D)from the womb;
These who speak lies (E)go astray from [f]birth.
4 They have venom like the (F)venom of a serpent;
Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
5 So that it (G)does not hear the voice of [g](H)charmers,
Or a skillful caster of spells.
6 God, (I)shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, Lord.
7 May they (J)flow away like water that runs off;
When he [h](K)aims his arrows, may they be as [i]headless shafts.
8 May they be like a snail which goes along in slime,
Like the (L)miscarriage of a woman that never sees the sun.
9 Before your (M)pots can feel the fire of thorns
He will (N)sweep them away with a whirlwind, the [j]green and the burning alike.
10 The (O)righteous will rejoice when he (P)sees vengeance;
He will (Q)wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And people will say, “There certainly is [k](R)a reward for the righteous;
There certainly is a God who (S)judges on the earth!”
Footnotes
- Psalm 58 Title Lit Do Not Destroy
- Psalm 58 Title Possibly Epigrammatic Poem or Atonement Psalm
- Psalm 58:1 Another reading is speak righteousness in silence
- Psalm 58:1 Or mighty ones; or judges
- Psalm 58:1 Or mankind fairly?
- Psalm 58:3 Lit the womb
- Psalm 58:5 Or whisperers
- Psalm 58:7 Lit bends
- Psalm 58:7 Lit though they were cut off
- Psalm 58:9 Lit living
- Psalm 58:11 Lit fruit
Cross references
- Psalm 58:1 : Ps 82:2
- Psalm 58:2 : Mal 3:15
- Psalm 58:2 : Ps 94:20; Is 10:1
- Psalm 58:3 : Ps 51:5; Is 48:8
- Psalm 58:3 : Ps 53:3
- Psalm 58:4 : Deut 32:33; Ps 140:3
- Psalm 58:5 : Jer 8:17
- Psalm 58:5 : Eccl 10:11
- Psalm 58:6 : Job 4:10; Ps 3:7
- Psalm 58:7 : Josh 2:11; 7:5; Ps 112:10; Is 13:7; Ezek 21:7
- Psalm 58:7 : Ps 64:3
- Psalm 58:8 : Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3
- Psalm 58:9 : Ps 118:12; Eccl 7:6
- Psalm 58:9 : Job 27:21; Ps 83:15; Prov 10:25
- Psalm 58:10 : Job 22:19; Ps 32:11; 64:10; 107:42
- Psalm 58:10 : Deut 32:43; Ps 91:8; Jer 11:20; 20:12
- Psalm 58:10 : Ps 68:23
- Psalm 58:11 : Ps 18:20; 19:11; Is 3:10; Luke 6:23, 35
- Psalm 58:11 : Ps 9:8; 67:4; 75:7; 94:2