Psa 58 | LEB | STEP | For the music director, according to Do not Destroy. Of David. A miktam. Do you really speak what is right when silent? Do you judge fairly the children of humankind?

Psalms 58

Judgment on the Wicked

For the music director, according to Do not Destroy.

Of David. A miktam. ^{▼▼The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one}
1 Do you really speak what is right when silent? ^{▼▼A slight emendation of the Hebrew text yields “what is right, O gods,” or “O mighty ones”}
Do you judge fairly the children of humankind? ^{▼▼Or “Do you judge fairly, O sons of humankind?”}
2 No, in your heart you plan injustices;
in the land ^{▼▼Or “on the earth”} you weigh out the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Their venom is like snake venom;
They are like a deaf viper that closes its ear
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or the skilled caster of spells.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth.
Break off the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.
7 Let them run away like water that runs off.
When he bends the bow, let his arrows be as though they were cut off. ^{▼▼Or “as though they were withered stalks”}
8 Let them be like a snail that melts away as it goes;
like the stillborn of woman that do not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of a thornbush,
whether green or ⌞dry⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “burning”} he will sweep it away. ^{▼▼The Hebrew of this verse is difficult to interpret}
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And people ^{▼▼Hebrew “a person”} will say, “Surely there is a ⌞reward⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “fruit”} for the righteous.
Surely there is a God who judges in the land.” ^{▼▼Or “on the earth”}