Psalms 58 (GNV)

Chapter Text

58:1 To him that excelleth. Destroy not. A Psalme of David on Michtam. Is it true? O Congregation, speake ye iustly? O sonnes of men, iudge ye vprightly?

58:2 Yea, rather ye imagine mischiefe in your heart: your hands execute crueltie vpon the earth.

58:3 The wicked are strangers from ye wombe: euen from the belly haue they erred, and speake lyes.

58:4 Their poyson is euen like the poyson of a serpent: like ye deafe adder that stoppeth his eare.

58:5 Which heareth not the voyce of the inchanter, though he be most expert in charming.

58:6 Breake their teeth, O God, in their mouthes: breake the iawes of the yong lions, O Lord.

58:7 Let them melt like the waters, let them passe away: when hee shooteth his arrowes, let them be as broken.

58:8 Let them consume like a snayle that melteth, and like the vntimely fruite of a woman, that hath not seene the sunne.

58:9 As raw flesh before your pots feele the fire of thornes: so let him cary them away as with a whirlewinde in his wrath.

58:10 The righteous shall reioyce when he seeeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feete in the blood of the wicked.

58:11 And men shall say, Verily there is fruite for the righteous: doutlesse there is a God that iudgeth in the earth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "excelleth", "destroy", "psalme", "david", "michtam", "true", "congregation", and "speake". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "excelleth" and "destroy", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local GNV text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "excelleth" and "destroy" 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 "excelleth" and "destroy" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.