Psalms 58 (ASV)

Chapter Text

58:1 Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

58:2 Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

58:4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [They are] like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,

58:5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, Charming never so wisely.

58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

58:7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

58:8 [Let them be] as a snail which melteth and passeth away, [Like] the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.

58:9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

58:10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;

58:11 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "indeed", "silence", "speak", "righteousness", "judge", "uprightly", "sons", and "heart". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "indeed" and "silence", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local ASV text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "indeed" and "silence" carries the first interpretive weight. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "indeed" and "silence" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.