Psalms 58King James Version
1[To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David.] Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
About Psalms 58
A fierce imprecation against corrupt judges. Break their teeth, O God. A hard psalm that refuses to pretend evil is not evil.
What happens here?
A fierce imprecatory psalm directed at corrupt judges. Do they speak righteousness? No. In heart they work wickedness. Their poison is like a serpent that stops its ear. The imprecations are vivid and specific: break their teeth, let them melt like water, let the righteous bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. The psalm closes not in blood-lust but in a theological point: there is a God who judges in the earth. Justice will be visible.
The big idea?
The fury of imprecation in this psalm is not personal revenge fantasy but a theological insistence that God's justice must become visible in history against those who corrupt justice itself.
A line to remember
verse: "So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth." The violence of the preceding verses points toward this: the goal is vindication of the claim that justice exists.
Set the scene
Superscription: 'To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David.' Altaschith group (57-59). The 'congregation' and 'sons of men' addressed in v1 suggest judicial corruption at a formal assembly level. The serpent imagery (vv4-5) and the graphic sequence of dissolution recall ancient Near Eastern curse poetry. Book 2.
Who's in it?
Corrupt judges addressed directly; God invoked as the true judge; the righteous as those who will see vindication; no named individuals.
Why it matters
Psalm 58 is one of the most uncomfortable imprecatory psalms. C.S. Lewis addressed the difficulty of these psalms in 'Reflections on the Psalms,' arguing they express a real and legitimate outrage at injustice. The theology is not bloodthirst but theodicy: if God does not act against those who corrupt justice, his justice is a fiction.
For when you feel...
For when people with power are using it to harm the powerless and nothing visible is happening. This psalm prays at the full heat of that outrage without sanitizing it.
