1 (58-1) For the Leader; Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David; Michtam. (58-2) Do ye indeed speak as a righteous company? Do ye judge with equity the sons of men? 2 (58-3) Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out in the earth the violence of your hands. 3 (58-4) The wicked are estranged from the womb; the speakers of lies go astray as soon as they are born. 4 (58-5) Their venom is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ear; 5 (58-6) Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, or of the most cunning binder of spells. 6 (58-7) Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the cheek-teeth of the young lions, O LORD. 7 (58-8) Let them melt away as water that runneth apace; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off. 8 (58-9) Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away; like the untimely births of a woman, that have not seen the sun. 9 (58-10) Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will sweep it away with a whirlwind, the raw and the burning alike. 10 (58-11) The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 (58-12) And men shall say: 'Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.'
Psalm 58 JPS Tanakh (1917)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Numbers like (22-2) in the text give the Hebrew verse numbering where it differs.
Cross references (11)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 57:1; Isaiah 11:3–5; Psalm 72:1–4; Deuteronomy 16:18–19; Deuteronomy 1:15–16
- 2 Psalm 94:20; Isaiah 10:1; Ecclesiastes 3:16; Micah 3:1–3; Ezekiel 22:27
- 3 Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 48:8; Proverbs 22:15; Ephesians 2:3; Job 15:14
- 4 Psalm 140:3; James 3:8; Jeremiah 8:17; Romans 3:13; Ecclesiastes 10:11
- 5 Jeremiah 8:17; Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 19:3
- 6 Psalm 3:7; Hosea 5:14; Psalm 10:15; Job 29:17; Job 4:10–11
- 7 Psalm 112:10; Joshua 7:5; Isaiah 13:7; Psalm 64:3; Exodus 15:15
- 8 Job 3:16; Ecclesiastes 6:3; Psalm 37:35–36; James 1:10; Matthew 24:35
- 9 Proverbs 10:25; Psalm 118:12; Ecclesiastes 7:6; Isaiah 17:13; Jeremiah 23:19
- 10 Psalm 68:23; Psalm 91:8; Proverbs 11:10; Revelation 11:17–18; Psalm 64:10
- 11 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).
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.