1 Unto the end. May you not destroy. Of David, with the inscription of a title. 2 If, truly and certainly, you speak justice, then judge what is right, you sons of men. 3 For, even in your heart, you work iniquity. Your hands construct injustice on the earth. 4 Sinners have become foreigners from the womb; they have gone astray from conception. They have been speaking falsehoods. 5 Their fury is similar to that of a serpent; it is like a deaf asp, who even blocks her ears, 6 who will not listen to the voice of charmers, nor even to the enchanter who chants wisely. 7 God will crush their teeth within their own mouth. The Lord will break the molars of the lions. 8 They will come to nothing, like water flowing away. He has aimed his bow, while they are being weakened. 9 Like wax that flows, they will be carried away. Fire has fallen upon them, and they will not see the sun. 10 Before your thorns could know the brier, he consumes them alive, as if in rage. 11 The just one will rejoice when he sees vindication. He will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner. 12 And man will say, “If the just one is fruitful, then, truly, there is a God judging them on earth.”
Psalms · Catholic Public Domain Version
Psalm 57 (58) Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · Psalm 58 · About the recordings
Notes on this text (4)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Psalms follow the Greek/Latin numbering, with the psalm titles counted as verse 1 (as in the Vulgate).
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
Cross references (12)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info. References use English (Hebrew-based) verse numbers; links open the passage in CPDV.
- 1 Psalm 57:1; Isaiah 11:3–5; Psalm 72:1–4; Deuteronomy 16:18–19; Deuteronomy 1:15–16
- 2 Psalm 57:1; Isaiah 11:3–5; Psalm 72:1–4; Deuteronomy 16:18–19; Deuteronomy 1:15–16
- 3 Psalm 94:20; Isaiah 10:1; Ecclesiastes 3:16; Micah 3:1–3; Ezekiel 22:27
- 4 Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 48:8; Proverbs 22:15; Ephesians 2:3; Job 15:14
- 5 Psalm 140:3; James 3:8; Jeremiah 8:17; Romans 3:13; Ecclesiastes 10:11
- 6 Jeremiah 8:17; Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 19:3
- 7 Psalm 3:7; Hosea 5:14; Psalm 10:15; Job 29:17; Job 4:10–11
- 8 Psalm 112:10; Joshua 7:5; Isaiah 13:7; Psalm 64:3; Exodus 15:15
- 9 Job 3:16; Ecclesiastes 6:3; Psalm 37:35–36; James 1:10; Matthew 24:35
- 10 Proverbs 10:25; Psalm 118:12; Ecclesiastes 7:6; Isaiah 17:13; Jeremiah 23:19
- 11 Psalm 68:23; Psalm 91:8; Proverbs 11:10; Revelation 11:17–18; Psalm 64:10
- 12 Psalm 67:4; Isaiah 3:10; Psalm 64:9; Psalm 33:18; Malachi 2:17
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations). Verse numbers below follow the Hebrew/English numbering: 58.
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Because then this Psalm is singing of the Passion of the Lord, see what is the title that it hath: "at the end." The end is Christ. Why hath He been called end? Not as one that consumeth, but one that consummateth....
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
As also David says, "The alienated are sinners from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born." And it was on account of this that he, turning them to their Lord, prepared, in the spirit and power of Elias, a perfect people for the Lord.