Psalm 58

Authorship

This Psalm was authored by David.

Outline

(This began as Wendland's Expository Outline, but may be adapted.)

I. Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do you judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? (1-2)

A. You work wickedness in your heart.

B. You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

II. The wicked. (3-5)

A. Are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born.

B. They speak lies.

C. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent.

D. They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear and will not listen to the voice of the wise charmers.

III. Judgment on the wicked. (6-9)

A. Break their teeth in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions.

B. Let them melt away as waters which run continually.

C. When he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be cut in pieces.

D. Let every one of them pass away:

1. Like a snail that melts away.

2. Like a stillborn child (untimely birth).

3. Take them away before their pots can feel the thorns.

(Means “remove them before they can burn and sear.)

IV. The response of the righteous. (10)

A. They will rejoice.

B. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

(Spiritually speaking, because the enemy is under our feet!)

V. The response of the world. Men will say: (11)

A. There is a reward for the righteous.

B. There is a God that judges in the earth.

Textual Criticism

The following is from Barthélemy's Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament volume on the Psalms. For a key to the various symbols and abbreviations, click here.

Ps 58,2(1) אֵלֶם {B} MT, α', T // err-voc: G, S / perm: σ' clav לאם

Ps 58,8(7) יִדְרֹךְ חִצָּיו {A} MT, T // lic: G, σ', Hebr, S

Ps 58,10(9) {A} MT, G // exeg: σ', Hebr / paraphr: T / abr-elus: S