9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, He will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In the name of Yahweh I cut them off.
When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; But the righteous stand firm forever.
But if Yahweh make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh.
He shall be driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world.
That the triumphing of the wicked is short, The joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach to the clouds, Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung, Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?' He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more, Neither shall his place any more see him. His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth. His bones are full of his youth, But youth shall lie down with him in the dust. "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, Though he hide it under his tongue, Though he spare it, and will not let it go, But keep it still within his mouth; Yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him. He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly. He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him. He shall not look at the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter. That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice. For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up. "Because he knew no quietness within him, He shall not save anything of that in which he delights. There was nothing left that he didn't devour, Therefore his prosperity shall not endure. In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him: The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him. When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating. He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through. He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him. All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent. The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, The earth shall rise up against him. The increase of his house shall depart; They shall rush away in the day of his wrath. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, The heritage appointed to him by God."
The east wind carries him away, and he departs; It sweeps him out of his place.
In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak; They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, But I will trust in you.
Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. As a dream when one wakes up, So, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
The wicked is brought down in his calamity, But in death, the righteous has a refuge.
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 58
Commentary on Psalms 58 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 58
Ps 58:1-11. David's critical condition in some period of the Sauline persecution probably occasioned this Psalm, in which the Psalmist teaches that the innate and actual sinfulness of men deserves, and shall receive, God's righteous vengeance, while the pious may be consoled by the evidence of His wise and holy government of men.
1. O congregation—literally, "Oh, dumb"; the word used is never translated "congregation." "Are ye dumb? ye should speak righteousness," may be the translation. In any case, the writer remonstrates with them, perhaps a council, who were assembled to try his cause, and bound to give a right decision.
2. This they did not design; but
weigh … violence—or give decisions of violence. Weigh is a figure to express the acts of judges.
in the earth—publicly.
3-5. describe the wicked generally, who sin naturally, easily, malignantly, and stubbornly.
4. stoppeth her—literally, "his."
ear—that is, the wicked man (the singular used collectively), who thus becomes like the deaf adder which has no ear.
6. He prays for their destruction, under the figure of ravenous beasts (Ps 3:7; 7:2).
7. which run continually—literally, "they shall go to themselves," utterly depart, as rapid mountain torrents.
he bendeth … his arrows—prepares it. The term for preparing a bow applied to arrows (Ps 64:3).
let them … pieces—literally, "as if they cut themselves off"—that is, become blunted and of no avail.
8, 9. Other figures of this utter ruin; the last denoting rapidity. In a shorter time than pots feel the heat of thorns on fire—
9. he shall take them away as with a whirlwind—literally, "blow him (them) away."
both living … wrath—literally, "as the living" or fresh as the heated or burning—that is, thorns—all easily blown away, so easily and quickly the wicked. The figure of the "snail" perhaps alludes to its loss of saliva when moving. Though obscure in its clauses, the general sense of the passage is clear.
10, 11. wash … wicked—denoting great slaughter. The joy of triumph over the destruction of the wicked is because they are God's enemies, and their overthrow shows that He reigneth (compare Ps 52:5-7; 54:7). In this assurance let heaven and earth rejoice (Ps 96:10; 97:1, &c.).