Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 58:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 58:2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness — With their tongues they had spoken maliciously, and given evil counsel. In their hearts they meditated nothing but wickedness. And though in their hands they held the scales of justice, yet in their use of them they were balances of injustice and violence. This is the fact to which the psalmist alludes, and the figure which he uses is that of justice with her scales or balances, which, though it might be the emblem of the court, yet it did not prevail in the practice of these magistrates and counsellors.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 58:0 Corrupt judges

In Psalms 10-17 the psalmist considered the problem of the poor and innocent being trampled underfoot by people of power and wealth. (See notes on these psalms, including the special note that follows Psalms 10:0.) In Psalms 58:0 the psalmist deals more specifically with those who make such a situation possible, the corrupt judges. Evil in thoughts and actions, they are deaf to any pleas for justice (1-5). The psalmist appeals to God to break their power and destroy them, so that they disappear from human society (6-9). The righteous will rejoice when corruption and oppression receive their fitting judgment from God (10-11).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye indeed judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.”

The first thing the serious Bible student will be concerned about here is the false translation of this place in the RSV, which gives us this for Psalms 58:1, “Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the sons of men uprightly?” The RSV translators did indeed give us an alternative reading which is a thousand times better than their translation, i.e., `mighty lords,’ instead of `gods’ in the first clause.

The error in this translation is seen in the postulations of many commentators who accept `gods’ here as a council of pagan deities whom God allowed to rule the nations. The persons addressed in these first two verses are not divine persons at all, despite the assertions of some writers.

The error of this translation is not that the Hebrew word of two consonants (L-M) cannot be so translated; but that such a translation is ridiculous on the face of it. The word can also mean, “rams,” “leaders,” “mighty lords,” “judges,” etc. Why should the translators have chosen a word capable of such perverted implications?

The Biblical word “gods” is frequently applied to human authorities, leaders or judges, as in Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8; Deuteronomy 19:17; and Psalms 82:1; Psalms 82:6. to name only a few. The words of Christ have a special application here. When the Pharisees threatened to stone him for saying that he was the Son of God, Jesus replied to them by quoting Psalms 82:6, of which he said, “If he called them gods unto whom the Word of God came (and the Scriptures cannot be broken), how can you say of Him whom the Father sent into the world, `Thou blasphemest,’ because I said I am the Son of God?” (John 10:34-35).

We are indeed thankful for those writers who discern what is truly meant here.

These verses are addressed to those who discharge the god-like offices of judges and rulers.Ibid. “O ye gods,” means `mighty ones’ in the sense of judges.J. R. Dummelow’s Commentary, p. 352.

The title `gods’ is given in flattery and irony.W. E. Addis, p. 382.

Despite the various translations which the Hebrew here allows, these persons addressed here are human rulers.Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 208.

“O ye gods,” is an expression of sarcasm directed against unjust judges.Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, Old Testament, p. 516.

That the unjust persons addressed here are indeed human beings and not “gods” is proved by the parallelism which is such a distinctive feature of Hebrew poetry.

“Do ye judge rightly, O ye sons of men” This is the second clause of verse one; and the parallelism inherent in the poetry here shows that whoever is addressed in the first clause, it must be someone who is also identified by the phrase “ye sons of men.” The RSV translators, of course, changed this also in order to support their error in the first clause. As someone has said, “One poor translation always leads to another.”

Now, just “Who were these `mighty lords,’ anyway? They were, in all probability the authorities, deputy rulers, and judges of the court of Israel’s King David during the days leading up to the rebellion of his son Absalom. However, there are overtones here of the judgment of God against all wicked men.

“Yea, in heart ye work wickedness” The reign of crooked judges and other evil authorities in high office was confined to no particular period of Israel’s history. We might almost say that it was the accepted “modus operandi” of the vast majority of Israel’s rulers that reached some kind of a wicked climax during the personal ministry of Christ. Jeremiah designated the whole nation as “a corrupt vine”; Isaiah announced their judicial hardening; and Ezekiel solemnly declared that Israel became worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezekiel 16).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness - Whatever might be the outward appearances, whatever pretences they might make to just judgment, yet in fact their hearts were set on wickedness, and they were conscious of doing wrong.

Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth - It is difficult to attach any meaning to this language; the translators evidently felt that they could not express the meaning of the original; and they, therefore, gave what seems to be a literal translation of the Hebrew. The Septuagint renders it, “In heart you work iniquity in the land; your hands weave together iniquity.” The Latin Vulgate: “In heart you work iniquity; in the land your hands prepare injustice.” Luther: “Yea, willingly do you work iniquity in the land, and go straight through to work evil with your hands.” Professor Alexander: “In the land, the violence of your hands ye weigh.” Perhaps the true translation of the whole verse would be, “Yea, in heart ye work iniquity in the land; ye weigh (weigh out) the violence of your hands;” that is, the deeds of violence or wickedness which your hands commit. The idea of “weighing” them, or “weighing them out,” is derived from the administration of justice. In all lands people are accustomed to speak of “weighing out” justice; to symbolize its administration by scales and balances; and to express the doing of it as holding an even balance. Compare Job 31:6, note; Daniel 5:27, note; Revelation 6:5, note. Thus interpreted, this verse refers, as Psalms 58:1, to the act of pronouncing judgment; and the idea is that instead of pronouncing a just judgment - of holding an equal balance - they determined in favor of violence - of acts of oppression and wrong to be committed by their own hands. That which they weighed out, or dispensed, was not a just sentence, but violence, wrong, injustice, crime.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2.Yea, rather, in heart ye plot wickedness. In the former verse he complained of the gross shamelessness manifested in their conduct. Now he charges them both with entertaining wickedness in their thoughts, and practising it with their hands. I have accordingly translated the Hebrew article אף, aph, yea, rather — it being evident that David proceeds, after first repelling the calumnies of his enemies, to the further step of challenging them with the sins which they had themselves committed. The second clause of the verse may be rendered in two different ways, ye weigh violence with your hands, or, your hands weigh violence; and as the meaning is the same, it is immaterial which the reader may adopt. Some think that he uses the figurative expression, to weigh, in allusion to the pretense of equity under which he was persecuted, as if he were a disturber of the peace, and chargeable with treason and contumacy towards the king. In all probability, his enemies glossed over their oppression with plausible pretences, such as hypocrites are never slow to discover. But the Hebrew word פלס, phalas, admits of a wider signification, to frame or set in order; and nothing more may be meant than that they put into shape the sins which they had first conceived in their thoughts. It is added, upon the earth, to denote the unbridled license of their wickedness, which was done openly, and not in places where concealment might have been practiced.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 58:1-11

Psalms 58:1-11 is a prayer of David. I would not want to be one of David's enemies because of his prayers.

Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men? Yes, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies ( Psalms 58:1-3 ).

Now David is talking about the nature, the sinful nature of man. Now, I don't think there were any of you that had to teach your children to tell a lie. You had to teach them to tell the truth. You don't say, "Well now, if you get in trouble just lie about it and get out of it." They seem to just do that naturally. So you have to teach them you've got to tell the truth at all times. David said, "They went forth from the womb, speaking lies. They were estranged from the womb. As soon as they are born, speaking lies."

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth ( Psalms 58:4-6 ):

David didn't mess around.

break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD. Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be cut in pieces. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away ( Psalms 58:6-8 ):

Have you ever poured salt on a snail and watch it melt?

like the untimely birth of a woman, that may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as the whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judges in the eaRuth ( Psalms 58:8-11 ).

Now, coming as we do from our Christian ethic, from the New Testament, we have difficulty in David's prayers. Because Jesus told us that we are to love those who hate us; we are to do good to those who despitefully use us. Bless those that curse you. And the ethic that we have learned from Christ in the New Testament is much different.

Now, I find David's ethic pretty satisfying with me. I like vengeance. I like to see the bad guys get beat and the good guys win. And I like to see the wicked really taken care of for good. I must confess that I rejoice in such things. But I must also confess that such rejoicing is wrong according to the New Testament ethic, the Christian ethic. And yet, there is just something about my own nature that is similar to David's, in that when someone has really done something that is truly evil, I like to see vengeance come upon them.

Now, where I have to be careful is that I so often want to bring vengeance on them myself, and that is where I can really get in trouble. God said, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord." Now notice, David isn't really seeking to bring vengeance himself; he is asking God to knock the teeth out of their mouths. Asking God to take vengeance on them. I don't know that it is much better, but we must be careful about trying to take personal vengeance upon people who we feel have wronged us, or who have wronged us. We must learn to commit ourselves and our ways unto the Lord, and let the Lord take care of them. It is not mine to become Captain Avenger and go out and right all of the evils of the world.

But David does pray in these psalms, but as I say, it is not in keeping with the New Testament ethic. And I have to pray, not as David prayed, but I have to pray, "Lord, keep my heart from devising vengeance, and keep me, Lord, from wanting to take vengeance. And oh God, help me to have a forgiving attitude and spirit towards those that I feel this, I would like to take vengeance on." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The marks of crooked judges 58:1-5

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 58

In this prophetic lament psalm, David called on God to judge corrupt judges so the righteous would continue to trust in the Lord. [Note: See Day, pp. 169-73.] This is also an imprecatory psalm.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David proceeded to answer his own questions. Instead of practicing justice, these rulers planned injustice and violence (cf. Micah 3:1-3; Micah 3:9-11; Micah 6:12). They spoke lies and did not respond to the warnings of others. Furthermore, they had a long history of destructive behavior.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness,.... So far were they from speaking righteousness, and judging uprightly. The heart of man is wickedness itself; it is desperately wicked, and is the shop in which all wickedness is wrought; for sinful acts are committed there as well as by the tongue and hand, as follows. This phrase also denotes their sinning; not with precipitancy, and through surprise; but with premeditation and deliberation; and their doing it heartily, with good will, and with allowance, and their continuance and constant persisting in it;

ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth; they were guilty of acts of violence and oppression, which, of all men, judges should not be guilty of; whose business it is to plead the cause of the injured and oppressed, to right their wrongs, and to protect and defend them: these they pretended to weigh in the balance of justice and equity, and committed them under a show of righteousness; they decreed unrighteous decrees, and framed mischief by a law; and this they did openly, and everywhere, throughout the whole land.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.

      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 poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;   5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

      We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription (Al-taschith, and Michtam of David) with that which goes before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have been penned with reference to that persecution through which God preserved him (Al-taschith--Destroy not), and therefore the psalms he then penned were precious to him, Michtams--David's jewels, as Dr. Hammond translates it.

      In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecuting him. Two things he charges them with:

      I. The corruption of their government. They were a congregation, a bench of justices, nay, perhaps, a congress or convention of the states, from whom one might have expected fair dealing, for they were men learned in the laws, had been brought up in the study of these statutes and judgments, which were so righteous that those of other nations were not to be compared with them. One would not have thought a congregation of such could be bribed and biassed with pensions, and yet, it seems, they were, because the son of Kish could do that for them which the son of Jesse could not, 1 Samuel 22:7. He had vineyards, and fields, and preferments, to give them, and therefore, to please him, they would do any thing, right or wrong. Of all the melancholy views which Solomon took of this earth and its grievances, nothing vexed him so much as to see that in the place of judgment wickedness was there,Ecclesiastes 3:16. So it was in Saul's time. 1. The judges would not do right, would not protect or vindicate oppressed innocency (Psalms 58:1; Psalms 58:1): "Do you indeed speak righteousness, or judge uprightly? No; you are far from it; your own consciences cannot but tell you that you do not discharge the trust reposed in you as magistrates, by which you are bound to be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do well. Is this the justice you pretend to administer? Is this the patronage, this the countenance, which an honest man and an honest cause may expect from you? Remember you are sons of men; mortal and dying, and that you stand upon the same level before God with the meanest of those you trample upon, and must yourselves be called to an account and judged. You are sons of men, and therefore we may appeal to yourselves, and to that law of nature which is written in every man's heart: Do you indeed speak righteousness? And will not your second thoughts correct what you have done?" Note, It is good for us often to reflect upon what we say with this serious question, Do we indeed speak righteousness? that we may unsay what we have spoken amiss and may proceed no further in it. 2. They did a great deal of wrong; they used their power for the support of injury and oppression (Psalms 58:2; Psalms 58:2): In heart you work wickedness (all the wickedness of the life is wrought in the heart). It intimates that they wrought with a great deal of plot and management, not by surprise, but with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it and resolution in it. The moire there is of the heart in any act of wickedness the worse it is, Ecclesiastes 8:11. And what was their wickedness? It follows, "You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth" (or in the land), "the peace of which you are appointed to be the conservators of." They did all the violence and injury they could, either to enrich or avenge themselves, and they weighed it; that is, 1. They did it with a great deal of craft and caution: "You frame it by rule and lines" (so the word signifies), "that it may effectually answer your mischievous intentions; such masters are you of the art of oppression." 2. They did it under colour of justice. They held the balances (the emblem of justice) in their hands, as if they designed to do right, and right is expected from them, but the result is violence and oppression, which are practised the more effectually for being practised under the pretext of law and right.

      II. The corruption of their nature. This was the root of bitterness from which that gall and wormwood sprang (Psalms 58:3; Psalms 58:3): The wicked, who in heart work wickedness, are estranged from the womb, estranged from God and all good, alienated from the divine life, and its principles, powers, and pleasures, Ephesians 4:18. A sinful state is a state of estrangement from that acquaintance with God and service of him which we were made for. Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them; they have in their natures a strong inclination to it; they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education. They are called, and not miscalled, transgressors from the womb; one can therefore expect no other than that they will deal very treacherously; see Isaiah 48:8. They go astray from God and their duty as soon as they are born, (that is, as soon as possibly they can); the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts appears with the first operations of reason; as the wheat springs up, the tares spring up with it. Three instances are here given of the corruption of nature:-- 1. Falsehood. They soon learn to speak lies, and bend their tongues, like their bows, for that purpose, Jeremiah 9:3. How soon will little children tell a lie to excuse a fault, or in their own commendation! No sooner can they speak than they speak to God's dishonour; tongue-sins are some of the first of our actual transgressions. 2. Malice. Their poison (that is, their ill-will, and the spite they bore to goodness and all good men, particularly to David) was like the poison of a serpent, innate, venomous, and very mischievous, and that which they can never be cured of. We pity a dog that is poisoned by accident, but hate a serpent that is poisonous by nature. Such as the cursed enmity in this serpent's brood against the Lord and his anointed. 3. Untractableness. They are malicious, and nothing will work upon them, no reason, no kindness, to mollify them, and bring them to a better temper. They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear,Psalms 58:4; Psalms 58:5. The psalmist, having compared these wicked men, whom he here complains of, to serpents, for their poisonous malice, takes occasion thence, upon another account, to compare them to the deaf adder or viper, concerning which there was then this vulgar tradition, that whereas, by music or some other art, they had a way of charming serpents, so as either to destroy them or at least disable them to do mischief, this deaf adder would lay one ear to the ground and stop the other with her tail, so that she could not hear the voice of the enchantment, and so defeated the intention of it and secured herself. The using of this comparison neither verifies the story, nor, if it were true, justifies the use of this enchantment; for it is only an allusion to the report of such a thing, to illustrate the obstinacy of sinners in a sinful way. God's design, in his word and providence, is to cure serpents of their malignity; to this end how wise, how powerful, how well-chosen are the charms! How forcible the right words! But all in vain with most men; and what is the reason? It is because they will not hearken. None so deaf as those that will not hear. We have piped unto men, and they have not danced; how should they, when they have stopped their ears?