Psalm 58

A Cry against Injustice

For the choir director: “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David.

Difficult Times Ahead

3 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.^{(A) 2} For people will be lovers of self,^(B) lovers of money,^(C) boastful, proud,^(D) demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,^{(E) 3} unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers,^(F) without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,^{(G) 4} traitors,^(H) reckless,^(I) conceited,^(J) lovers of pleasure^(K) rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.^(L) Avoid these people.^(M)

⁶ For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions,^{(N) 7} always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.^{(O) 8} Just as Jannes and Jambres^(P) resisted Moses,^(Q) so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind^(R) and worthless^(S) in regard to the faith. ⁹ But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres.

12 These^(A) are the priests and Levites^(B) who went up with Zerubbabel^(C) son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua:

These were the heads of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.^(G)

⁸ The Levites:

¹² In the days of Joiakim, the heads of the priestly families were

²² In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the heads of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded while Darius the Persian ruled. ²³ Levi’s descendants, the family heads, were recorded in the Book of the Historical Events^(J) during the days of Johanan son of Eliashib. ²⁴ The heads of the Levites—Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their relatives opposite them—gave praise and thanks, division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.^{(K) 25} This included Mattaniah,^(L) Bakbukiah, and Obadiah. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the city gates.^{(M) 26} These served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor^(N) and Ezra the priest and scribe.^(O)

Dedication of the Wall

²⁷ At the dedication of the wall^(P) of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites wherever they lived and brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.^{(Q) 28} The singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem, from the settlements of the Netophathites,^{(R) 29} from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰ After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the city gates, and the wall.^(S)

³¹ Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate.^{(T) 32} Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed, ³³ along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵ and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets, and Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph followed ³⁶ as well as his relatives—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God.^(U) Ezra the scribe^(V) went in front of them. ³⁷ At the Fountain Gate^(W) they climbed the steps of the city of David^(X) on the ascent of the wall and went above the house of David to the Water Gate^(Y) on the east.

³⁸ The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens^(Z) to the Broad Wall,^{(AA) 39} above the Ephraim Gate,^(AB) and by the Old Gate,^(AC) the Fish Gate,^(AD) the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate.^(AE) They stopped at the Gate of the Guard.^{(AF) 40} The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials accompanying me, ⁴¹ as well as the priests:

Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader. ⁴³ On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy.^(AG) The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away.^(AH)

Support of the Levites’ Ministry

⁴⁴ On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms^(AI) that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths.^(AJ) The legally required portions for the priests and Levites^(AK) were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving.^{(AL) 45} They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers,^(AM) as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.^{(AN) 46} For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph,^(AO) there were heads^[c] of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.^{(AP) 47} So in the days of Zerubbabel^(AQ) and Nehemiah,^(AR) all Israel contributed the daily portions^(AS) for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions^(AT) for Aaron’s descendants.