Psalms 58:1-11
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 poisona of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charmingb 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 rewardc for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
This is a fine setting forth of the certainty of the judgment of God against wickedness. The psalmist declares its reason (verses Psa 58:1-5), its process (verses Psa 58:6-9), and its effect (verses to, Psa 58:11).
The whole psalm will be misunderstood save as we carefully note its opening questions. The reason of the judgment is not personal wrong. It is rather the failure of the rulers to administer justice. They are silent when they should speak. Their judgments are not upright. Evil in heart, they lie in word, and poison like serpents, and no charming wins them.
The process of judgment is described in the form of prayer, which shows the sympathy of the singer with the God who is forever against the oppressor. The terms are fierce and terrible, but not more so than are the wrath and stroke of God against such evil men. The effect of the divine judgment is to be the rejoicing of the righteous, the destruction of the wicked, and His vindication among men. It is a sickly sentimentality and a wicked weakness that have more sympathy with the corrupt oppressors than with the anger of God.