Psalm 58
New Living Translation
Chapter overview
Psalm 58 denounces rulers who manufacture injustice and remain deaf to correction. Its severe poetic images demand an end to entrenched harm, so communities can see that righteous judgment truly matters.
JusticeCorrupt rulersJudgmentCommunity
1Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly?
2No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land.
3These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.
4They spit venom like deadly snakes; they are like cobras that refuse to listen,
5ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play.
6Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord!
7May they disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.
8May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
9God will sweep them away, both young and old, faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.
10The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11Then at last everyone will say, “There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”
New Living Translation — Licensed through API.Bible, non-commercial use only, no derivatives. Where these translations come from.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Text unchanged, provided through API.Bible.