Psalm 58
Living Bible
58 1-2 Justice? You high and mighty politicians don’t even know the meaning of the word! Fairness? Which of you has any left? Not one! All your dealings are crooked: you give “justice” in exchange for bribes.[a] 3 These men are born sinners, lying from their earliest words! 4-5 They are poisonous as deadly snakes, cobras that close their ears to the most expert of charmers.
6 O God, break off their fangs. Tear out the teeth of these young lions, Lord. 7 Let them disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.[b] 8 Let them be as snails that dissolve into slime and as those who die at birth, who never see the sun. 9 God will sweep away both old and young. He will destroy them more quickly than a cooking pot can feel the blazing fire of thorns beneath it.
10 The godly shall rejoice in the triumph of right;[c] they shall walk the bloodstained fields of slaughtered, wicked men. 11 Then at last everyone will know that good is rewarded, and that there is a God who judges justly here on earth.
Footnotes
- Psalm 58:1 you give “justice” in exchange for bribes, literally, “you deal out the violence of your hands in the land.”
- Psalm 58:7 Make their weapons useless in their hands, or “Let them be trodden down and wither like grass.”
- Psalm 58:10 in the triumph of right, literally, “when he sees the vengeance.”
Psalm 58
Legacy Standard Bible
There Is a God Who Judges on Earth
For the choir director. [a]Al-tashheth. Of David. A [b]Mikhtam.
58 Do you indeed [c]speak righteousness, O [d]gods?
Do you (A)judge [e]with equity, O sons of men?
2 No, in heart you (B)work unrighteousness;
On earth you [f](C)prepare a path for the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked are estranged (D)from the womb;
These who speak falsehood (E)wander in error from [g]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 [h](H)charmers,
Or a skillful caster of spells.
6 O God, (I)shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.
7 Let them (J)flow away like water that runs off;
When he [i](K)aims his arrows, let them be as [j]headless shafts.
8 Let them be as a snail which [k]melts away as it goes along,
Like the (L)miscarriages of a woman which never behold the sun.
9 Before your (M)pots can feel the fire of thorns
He will (N)sweep them away with a whirlwind, the living and the burning alike.
10 The (O)righteous will be glad when he (P)beholds the vengeance;
He will (Q)wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And men will say, “Surely there is a [l](R)reward for the righteous;
Surely there is a God who (S)judges [m]on earth!”
Footnotes
- Psalm 58 Title Lit Do Not Destroy
- Psalm 58 Title Possibly Epigrammatic Poem, Atonement Psalm
- Psalm 58:1 Or speak righteousness in silence
- Psalm 58:1 Or mighty ones, judges
- Psalm 58:1 Or uprightly the sons of men
- Psalm 58:2 Lit make level
- Psalm 58:3 Lit stomach
- Psalm 58:5 Or whisperers
- Psalm 58:7 Lit bends
- Psalm 58:7 Lit though they were cut off
- Psalm 58:8 Secretes slime
- Psalm 58:11 Lit fruit
- Psalm 58:11 Or in
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