King James Version
Psalms 58
11 verses with commentary
God Who Judges the Earth
To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Altaschith: or, Destroy not, A golden Psalm of David
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KJV Study Commentary
David's rhetorical question to the 'congregation' (Hebrew 'elem'—mighty ones/judges) exposes the silence of those obligated to speak justice. The parallel 'judge uprightly' reveals covenant obligation—leaders must execute God's righteous standards. Their silence in the face of injustice constitutes covenant violation, anticipating Christ's denunciation of religious leaders who 'shut up the kingdom...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Congregation.**—This rendering comes of a mistaken derivation of the Hebrew word *êlem, *which offers some difficulty. As pointed, it must mean *silence *(comp. Psalms 56 title, the only other place it occurs); and some, regardless of sense, would render, “do ye truly in silence speak righteousness.” Of the many conjectures on the passage, we may choose between reading *elim *(short for *elî...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4-5. On the ground of former favor, he invokes divine guidance, according to God's gracious ways of dealing and faithfulness.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 58
Chapter Outline
Wicked judges described and reproved.(1-5)
A prayer that they may be disabled, and their ruin predicted.(6-11)
**Verses 1-5**
When wrong is done under the form of law, it is worse than any other; especially it is grievous to behold those who profess to be children of God, joining together against any of his people. We should thank the Lord for merciful ...
Read full commentary →Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
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KJV Study Commentary
The contrast between speaking justice (v.1) and working wickedness 'in heart' reveals that sin originates internally before manifesting in action (Mark 7:21-23). 'Weigh the violence of your hands' uses courtroom imagery—judges who should weigh evidence instead weigh out (dispense) violence. This inversion of justice anticipates eschatological judgment where earthly judges face divine scrutiny.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **In heart . . .** **in** **the earth **(or, better, *in the land*).—These in the text are in antithesis. The mischief conceived in the heart is weighed out, instead of justice, by these unjust magistrates. The balance of justice is thus turned into a means of wrong-doing. But, perhaps, we should rather arrange as follows:
Nay! with your heart ye work wickedness in the land,
With your hands yo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6-7. Confessing past and present sins, he pleads for mercy, not on palliations of sin, but on God's well-known benevolence.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 58
Chapter Outline
Wicked judges described and reproved.(1-5)
A prayer that they may be disabled, and their ruin predicted.(6-11)
**Verses 1-5**
When wrong is done under the form of law, it is worse than any other; especially it is grievous to behold those who profess to be children of God, joining together against any of his people. We should thank the Lord for merciful ...
Read full commentary →The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. as soon: Heb. from the belly
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KJV Study Commentary
The doctrine of original sin is here poetically expressed: 'The wicked are estranged from the womb.' The Hebrew 'zur' (estranged/alienated) indicates separation from God from conception, not merely from moral accountability. 'Speaking lies' as soon as born is hyperbolic but theologically accurate—the sin nature precedes personal acts of sin. This anticipates Paul's teaching in Romans 5:12-19.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **The Wicked.**—The poet passes from his indignant challenge to the unjust judges to speak of the wicked generally. He finds that such maturity of vice points to very early depravity. Such hardened sinners must have been cradled in wickedness.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6-7. Confessing past and present sins, he pleads for mercy, not on palliations of sin, but on God's well-known benevolence.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 58
Chapter Outline
Wicked judges described and reproved.(1-5)
A prayer that they may be disabled, and their ruin predicted.(6-11)
**Verses 1-5**
When wrong is done under the form of law, it is worse than any other; especially it is grievous to behold those who profess to be children of God, joining together against any of his people. We should thank the Lord for merciful ...
Read full commentary →Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; like the poison: Heb. according to the likeness, etc adder: or, asp
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KJV Study Commentary
The serpent imagery evokes the Eden temptation, identifying wicked leaders with Satan's character. The 'deaf adder' (cobra) that refuses to hear the charmer represents judicial hardening—those who persistently resist truth become incapable of responding. This anticipates Jesus's quotation of Isaiah 6:9-10 regarding those who have eyes but cannot see (Matthew 13:13-15).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Their poison . . .**—Better, *they have a venom like*, &c. The term for serpent is the generic *nāchash.*
The most forcible images of determined wickedness, and of the destruction it entails, now follow. The first is supplied by the serpent, the more suggestive from the accumulated evil qualities of which that animal has from the first been considered the type. Here the figure is heightened,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8-9. upright--**acting according to His promise.
**sinners--**the general term, limited by the
**meek--**who are penitent.
**the way--**and his way--God's way of providence.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 58
Chapter Outline
Wicked judges described and reproved.(1-5)
A prayer that they may be disabled, and their ruin predicted.(6-11)
**Verses 1-5**
When wrong is done under the form of law, it is worse than any other; especially it is grievous to behold those who profess to be children of God, joining together against any of his people. We should thank the Lord for merciful ...
Read full commentary →Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. charming: or, be the charmer never so cunning
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KJV Study Commentary
Continuing the serpent metaphor, the 'voice of charmers' represents attempts to move the hardened through human wisdom or eloquence. That the adder refuses 'charming never so wisely' demonstrates that judicial hardening makes one immune to persuasion. Only God's sovereign regeneration can overcome such hardness (John 3:3-8), as human means prove insufficient.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Charmers.**—Heb., *melachashîm, *a word undoubtedly formed from the sound made by the charmer in imitating the snake, in order to entice it from its hole. Lane, in *Modern Egyptians, *describing a snake charmer at his task, says: “He assumes an air of mystery, strikes the walls with a short palm stick, whistles, makes a *clacking noise *with his tongue.” The art of serpent charming, and the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8-9. upright--**acting according to His promise.
**sinners--**the general term, limited by the
**meek--**who are penitent.
**the way--**and his way--God's way of providence.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 58
Chapter Outline
Wicked judges described and reproved.(1-5)
A prayer that they may be disabled, and their ruin predicted.(6-11)
**Verses 1-5**
When wrong is done under the form of law, it is worse than any other; especially it is grievous to behold those who profess to be children of God, joining together against any of his people. We should thank the Lord for merciful ...
Read full commentary →Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
David's imprecatory prayer for God to 'break their teeth' uses predatory animal imagery—removing the lion's fangs eliminates its threat. This is not personal vengeance but appeal for divine justice to protect the vulnerable. The Hebrew 'haras' (break/tear down) appears in contexts of God dismantling evil structures, showing that prayer against wickedness aligns with God's own purposes.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Break their teeth.**—The change is abrupt from the image of obstinacy deaf to all charms, to that of violence that must be tamed by force.
**Great teeth.**—Literally, *biters, grinders.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. paths--**similar sense--His modes of dealing (compare Psa 25:4).
**mercy and truth--**(Job 14:1-22), God's grace in promising and faithfulness in performing.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-11**
David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
The dual images of melting water and broken arrows emphasize the complete negation of the wicked's power. Water that 'runs continually away' (Hebrew 'halak'—walk/go) depicts dissipation and futility. Arrows 'cut in pieces' represents weapons rendered useless. This demonstrates God's sovereignty—He can reduce the mighty to nothing, anticipated in Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:51-53).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7, 8) After the types of obstinate and fierce malignity, come four striking images of the fatuity of the wicked man’s projects, and his own imminent ruin. The first of these compares him to water, which, spilt on a sandy soil, sinks into it and melts away. (Comp. 2Samuel 14:14.) Perhaps a phenomenon, often described by travellers, was in the poet’s mind, the disappearance of a stream which, after...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. God's perfections of love, mercy, goodness, and truth are manifested (his name, compare Psa 9:10) in pardoning sin, and the greatness of sin renders pardon more needed.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-11**
David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Vivid Imagery of Divine Judgment</strong><br><br>This verse employs two striking metaphors for the destruction of the wicked. The first image, "as a snail which melteth" (<em>kemo shablul temes yahalok</em>), draws from ancient observation that snail trails appear to be the creature dissolving as it moves. The Hebrew <em>temes</em> means "to melt" or "dissolve," creating a picture of gradu...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12-13. What he asks for himself is the common lot of all the pious.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-11**
David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not...
Read full commentary →Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. both: Heb. as living as wrath
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KJV Study Commentary
The difficult Hebrew of this verse likely depicts swift judgment—before pots feel thorns' heat, God's wrath sweeps away the wicked like a whirlwind. The imagery is sudden, unexpected judgment. The contrast between 'living' and 'wrath' may indicate judgment falling on the wicked during their prosperity, not just posthumously.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Before.**—The figure in this difficult verse is generally intelligible, though the text as it stands resists all attempts to translate it. As in the preceding images, it must convey the idea of abortive effort and sudden ruin, and, as has generally been understood, some experience of eastern travel undoubtedly supplied the figure which accident or a copyist’s error has rendered so obscure. T...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12-13. What he asks for himself is the common lot of all the pious.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-11**
David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not...
Read full commentary →The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
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KJV Study Commentary
The righteous rejoicing at vengeance is troubling to modern sensibilities but reflects covenant theology—God's people celebrate His justice. 'Wash his feet in the blood of the wicked' is hyperbolic battle imagery, not literal instruction. This anticipates Revelation 19:1-3 where heaven rejoices at Babylon's fall, showing that holiness delights in evil's defeat, not from cruelty but from love of ju...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Wash his feet.**—So in Psalm 68:23. “Wading deep in blood” is the picture suggested.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. The reason of the blessing explained--**the pious enjoy communion with God (compare Pr 3:21, 12), and, of course, learn His gracious terms of pardon.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-11**
David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not...
Read full commentary →So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. a reward: Heb. fruit of the, etc
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KJV Study Commentary
The conclusion vindicates two truths: reward exists for the righteous and God judges the earth. The Hebrew 'peri' (fruit/reward) connects to works proceeding from faith. 'Verily there is a God' responds to practical atheism that denies accountability. This anticipates the final judgment when every hidden thing comes to light (Ecclesiastes 12:14, 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15. His trust in God is fixed.
**net--**is frequently used as a figure for dangers by enemies (Psa 9:15; 10:9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-11**
David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not...
Read full commentary →