1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As 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.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
1 [[To the chief Musician, H5329 Altaschith, H516 Michtam H4387 of David.]] H1732 Do ye indeed H552 speak H1696 righteousness, H6664 O congregation? H482 do ye judge H8199 uprightly, H4339 O ye sons H1121 of men? H120
2 Yea, in heart H3820 ye work H6466 wickedness; H5766 ye weigh H6424 the violence H2555 of your hands H3027 in the earth. H776
3 The wicked H7563 are estranged H2114 from the womb: H7358 they go astray H8582 as soon as they be born, H990 speaking H1696 lies. H3577
4 Their poison H2534 is like H1823 the poison H2534 of a serpent: H5175 they are like the deaf H2795 adder H6620 that stoppeth H331 her ear; H241
5 Which will not hearken H8085 to the voice H6963 of charmers, H3907 charming H2266 H2267 never so wisely. H2449
6 Break H2040 their teeth, H8127 O God, H430 in their mouth: H6310 break out H5422 the great teeth H4459 of the young lions, H3715 O LORD. H3068
7 Let them melt away H3988 as waters H4325 which run continually: H1980 when he bendeth H1869 his bow to shoot his arrows, H2671 let them be as cut in pieces. H4135
8 As a snail H7642 which melteth, H8557 let every one of them pass away: H1980 like the untimely birth H5309 of a woman, H802 that they may not see H2372 the sun. H8121
9 Before your pots H5518 can feel H995 the thorns, H329 he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, H8175 both living, H2416 and in his wrath. H2740
10 The righteous H6662 shall rejoice H8055 when he seeth H2372 the vengeance: H5359 he shall wash H7364 his feet H6471 in the blood H1818 of the wicked. H7563
11 So that a man H120 shall say, H559 Verily there is a reward H6529 for the righteous: H6662 verily he is H3426 a God H430 that judgeth H8199 in the earth. H776
1 Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: `They are' like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, Charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
8 `Let them be' as a snail which melteth and passeth away, `Like' the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11 So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. Psalm 59 For the Chief Musician; `set to' Al-tashheth. `A Psalm' of David. Michtam; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.
1 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?
2 Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.
3 The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Their poison `is' as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.
7 They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.
8 As a snail that melteth he goeth on, `As' an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.
11 And man saith: `Surely fruit `is' for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
1 {To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam.} Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;
5 Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7 Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted:
8 Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun.
9 Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning, -- they shall be whirled away.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked:
11 And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
1 > Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; Like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 Which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers, No matter how skillful the charmer may be.
6 Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
7 Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, Like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, He will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11 So that men shall say, "Most assuredly there is a reward for the righteous. Most assuredly there is a God who judges the earth."
1 <To the chief music-maker; put to Al-tashheth. Michtam. Of David.> Is there righteousness in your mouths, O you gods? are you upright judges, O you sons of men?
2 The purposes of your hearts are evil; your hands are full of cruel doings on the earth.
3 The evil-doers are strange from the first; from the hour of their birth they go out of the true way, saying false words.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; they are like the adder, whose ears are shut;
5 Who will not be moved by the voice of the wonder-worker, however great are his powers.
6 O God, let their teeth be broken in their mouths; let the great teeth of the young lions be pulled out, O Lord.
7 Let them be turned to liquid like the ever-flowing waters; let them be cut off like the grass by the way.
8 Let them be like an after-birth which is turned to water and comes to an end; like the fruit of a woman who gives birth before her time, let them not see the sun.
9 Before they are conscious of it, let them be cut down like thorns; let a strong wind take them away like waste growth.
10 The upright man will be glad when he sees their punishment; his feet will be washed in the blood of the evil-doer.
11 So that men will say, Truly there is a reward for righteousness; truly there is a God who is judge on the earth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 58
Commentary on Psalms 58 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Cry for Vengeance upon Those Who Pervert Justice
Their teeth , said Psalms 57:1-11, are spear and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword ; Psalms 58:1-11 prays: crush their teeth in their mouth . This prominent common thought has induced the collector to append the one Michtam of David, to be sung altashcheth , to the other. Psalms 58:1-11, however, belongs to another period, viz., to the time of Absalom. The incomparable boldness of the language does not warrant us in denying it to David. In no one Psalm do we meet with so many high-flown figures coming together within the same narrow compass. But that it is David who speaks in this Psalm is to a certain extent guaranteed by Psalms 64:1-10 and Psalms 140:1-13. These three Psalms, of which the closing verses so closely resemble one another that they at once invite comparison, show that the same David who writes elsewhere so beautifully, tenderly, and clearly, is able among his manifold transitions to rise to an elevation at which his words as it were roll along like rumbling thunder through the gloomy darkness of the clouds, and more especially where they supplicate (Psalms 58:7) or predict (Psalms 140:10) the judgment of God.
The cumulative use of כּמו in different applications is peculiar to this Psalm. Its Michtam character becomes clearly defined in the closing verse.
The text of Psalms 58:2 runs: Do ye really dictate the silence of righteousness? i.e., that before which righteousness must become silent, as the collector (cf. Psalms 56:1) appears to have read it ( אלם = אלּוּם , B. Chullin 89a ). But instead of אלם it is, with Houbigant, J. D. Michaelis, Mendelssohn, and others, to be read אלם (= אלים , as in Exodus 15:11), as an apostrophe of those who discharge the godlike office of rulers and judges. Both the interrogative האמנם (with ŭ as is always the case at the head of interrogative clauses), num vere , which proceeds from doubt as to the questionable matter of fact (Numbers 22:37; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 6:18), and the parallel member of the verse, and also the historical circumstances out of which the Psalm springs, demand this alteration. Absalom with his followers had made the administration of justice the means of stealing from David the heart of his people; he feigned to be the more impartial judge. Hence David asks: Is it then really so, ye gods ( אלים like אלהים , Psalms 82:1, and here, as there, not without reference to their superhumanly proud and assumptive bearing), that ye speak righteousness, that ye judge the children of men in accordance with justice? Nay, on the contrary ( אף , imo , introducing an answer that goes beyond the first No), in heart (i.e., not merely outwardly allowing yourselves to be carried away) ye prepare villanies ( פּעל , as in Micah 2:1; and עולת , as in Psalms 64:7, from עולה = עולה , Ps 92:16, Job 5:16, with ô = a + w ) , in the land ye weigh out the violence of your hands (so that consequently violence fills the balances of your pretended justice). בּני אדם in Psalms 58:2 is the accusative of the object; if it had been intended as a second vocative, it ought to have been בּני־אישׁ (Psalms 4:3). The expression is inverted in order to make it possible to use the heavy energetic futures. בּארץ (mostly erroneously marked with Pazer ) has Athnach , cf. Psalms 35:20; Psalms 76:12.
After this bold beginning the boldest figures follow one another rapidly; and the first of these is that of the serpent, which is kept up longer than any of the others. The verb זוּר (cogn. סוּר ) is intentionally written זור in this instance in a neuter, not an active sense, plural זרוּ lar , like בּשׁוּ , טבוּ . Bakius recognises a retrospective reference to this passage in Isaiah 48:8. In such passages Scripture bears witness to the fact, which is borne out by experience, that there are men in whom evil from childhood onwards has a truly diabolical character, i.e., a selfish character altogether incapable of love. For although hereditary sinfulness and hereditary sin (guilt) are common to all men, yet the former takes the most manifold combinations and forms; and, in fact, the inheriting of sin and the complex influence of the power of evil and of the power of grace on the propagation of the human race require that it should be so. The Gospel of John more particularly teaches such a dualism of the natures of men. חמת־למו (with Rebia , as in John 18:18 ) is not the subject: the poison belonging to them, etc., but a clause by itself: poison is to them, they have poison; the construct state here, as in Lamentations 2:18; Ezekiel 1:27, does not express a relation of actual union, but only a close connection. יאטּם (with the orthophonic Dagesh which gives prominence to the Teth as the commencement of a syllable) is an optative future form, which is also employed as an indicative in the poetic style, e.g., Psalms 18:11. The subject of this attributive clause, continuing the adjective, is the deaf adder, such an one, viz., as makes itself deaf; and in this respect (as in their evil serpent nature) it is a figure of the self-hardening evil-doer. Then with אשׁר begins the more minute description of this adder. There is a difference even among serpents. They belong to the worst among them that are inaccessible to any kind of human influence. All the arts of sorcery are lost upon them. מלחשׁים are the whisperers of magic formulae (cf. Arabic naffathât , adjurations), and חובר חברים is one who works binding by spells, exorcism, and tying fast by magic knots (cf. חבר , to bind = to bewitch, cf. Arab. ‛qqd , ‛nn , Persic bend = κατάδεσμος , vid., Isaiah, i. 118, ii. 242). The most inventive affection and the most untiring patience cannot change their mind. Nothing therefore remains to David but to hope for their removal, and to pray for it.
The verb הרס is used much in the same way in Psalms 58:7 as ἀράσσειν (e.g., Iliad , xiii. 577, ἀπὸ δὲ τρυφάλειαν ἄραξεν ), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ימּאסוּ is, as in Job 7:5, = ימּסּוּ . The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare צנאכם , Numbers 32:24, and בּזאוּ = בּזזוּ , Isaiah 18:2, Isaiah 18:7; שׁאסיך , Chethîb , Jeremiah 30:16, and ראמה , Zechariah 14:10, more nearly resemble it. The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psalms 64:4, transferred to the arrows (= כּונן , Psalms 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i.e., as inoperative as if they had no heads or points ( כּמו as in Isaiah 26:18). In Psalms 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory “let them become” is to be supplied. Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i.e., squashest with the foot ( תּמס , as in Psalms 39:12, fut . Hiph . of מסה = מסס ), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing הלך with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.g., הלך תּם , הלך קרי , the words תּמס יהלך belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes ( תּמס after the form תּבל form בּלל
(Note: In the Phoenician, the Cyprian copper mine Ταμασσός appears to have taken its name from תמס , liquefactio (Levy, Phönizische Studien , iii. 7).)).
The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For שׁבּלוּל (with Dag. dirimens for שׁבלוּל ) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, זחיל תּבללא “the slimeworm”), from שׁבלל , to make wet, moist.
(Note: “God has created nothing without its use,” says the Talmud, B. Shabbath 77 b ; “He has created the snail ( שׁבלול לכתית ) to heal bruises by laying it upon them:” cf. Genesis Rabba , ch. 51 init. , where שׁבלול is explained by לימצא , סיליי , כיליי , κογχύλη, σέσιλος , limax . Abraham b. David of Fez, the contemporary of Saadia, has explained it in his Arabico-Hebrew Lexicon by אלחלזון , the slug. Nevertheless this is properly the name of the snail with a house ( נרתיק ), Talmudic חלּזון , and even at the present day in Syria and Palestine Arab. ḥlzûn (which is pronounced ḥalezôn ); whereas שׁבלול , in conformity with the etymon and with the figure, is the naked snail or slug. The ancient versions perhaps failed to recognise this, because the slug is not very often to be seen in hot eastern countries; but שׁבלול in this signification can be looked upon as traditional. The rendering “a rain-brook or mountain-torrent (Arabic seil sâbil ) which running runs away,” would, to say nothing more, give us, as Rosenmüller has already observed, a figure that has been made use of already in Psalms 58:8.)
In the second figure, the only sense in which נפל אשׁת belong together is “the untimely birth of a woman;” and rather than explain with the Talmud ( B. Môed katan 6 b ) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole,
(Note: The mole, which was thought to have no eyes, is actually called in post-biblical Hebrew אשׁת , plur . אישׁות (vid., Keelim xxi. 3).)
one would alter אשׁת into אשׁה . But this is not necessary, since the construct form אשׁת is found also in other instances (Deuteronomy 21:11; 1 Samuel 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction. So here, where בּל־הזוּ שׁמשׁ , according to Job 3:16; Ecclesiastes 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to נפל אשׁת (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. §176, b ). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psalms 58:10, אטד (plural in African, i.e., Punic, in Dioscorides atadi'n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like רתם , the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking. The alternative כּמו - כּמו signifies sive, sive , whether the one or the other. חי is that which is living, fresh, viz., the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of מבשּׁל (1 Samuel 2:15); חרון , a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand חרון metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective = charrôn , of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition. The suffix of ישׁערנּוּ , however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i.e., of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, “To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones.” To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.
Finally, we have a view of the results of the judicial interposition of God. The expression made use of to describe the satisfaction which this gives to the righteous is thoroughly Old Testament and warlike in its tone (cf. Psalms 68:24). David is in fact king, and perhaps no king ever remained so long quiet in the face of the most barefaced rebellion, and checked the shedding of blood, as David did at that time. If, however, blood must nevertheless flow in streams, he knows full well that it is the blood of the partisans of his deluded son; so that the men who were led the further astray in their judgment concerning him, the more inactive he remained, will at last be compelled to confess that it does really repay one to be just, and that there is really one higher than the high ones (Ecclesiastes 5:7[8]), a deity ( אלהים ) above the gods ( אלים( sdog ) who, though not forthwith, will nevertheless assuredly execute judgment in the earth. אך here, as in Job 18:21; Isaiah 45:14, retains its originally affirmative signification, which it has in common with אכן . אלהים is construed with the plural (Ges. §112, rem. 3), as is frequently the case, e.g., 2 Samuel 7:23 (where, however, the chronicler, in 1 Chronicles 17:21, has altered the older text). This is not because the heathen are speaking (Baur), but in order to set the infinite majesty and omnipotence of the heavenly Judge in contrast with these puffed-up “gods.”