Psalms
Summary
Psalm 58 is a stern rebuke of corrupt and unjust rulers who "weigh out the violence of your hands" instead of judging uprightly. David compares their poison to that of a serpent and an "adder that stops her ear" to the voice of the charmer. It contains startling imagery of judgement, asking God to "break their teeth" and let them "melt away as waters." David prays that they would pass away like a "snail that melts away as it moves." The psalm concludes with the assurance that the righteous will rejoice in God's victory, confirming that "there is a God who judges in the earth."
Do you indeed speak righteousness, O you rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?
yes, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
Let them melt away as waters which run continually; when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
Like a snail that melts away as it moves, let every one of them pass away; like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both the raw and the burning.
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
So that a man shall say, "truly, there is a reward for the righteous; truly, he is a God who judges in the earth."