9 Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
They compassed me about as bees, They have been extinguished as a fire of thorns, In the name of Jehovah I surely cut them off.
As the passing by of a hurricane, So the wicked is not, And the righteous is a foundation age-during.
and if a strange thing Jehovah do, and the ground hath opened her mouth and swallowed them, and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol -- then ye have known that these men have despised Jehovah.'
They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out.
That the singing of the wicked `is' short, And the joy of the profane for a moment, Though his excellency go up to the heavens, And his head against a cloud he strike -- As his own dung for ever he doth perish, His beholders say: `Where `is' he?' As a dream he fleeth, and they find him not, And he is driven away as a vision of the night, The eye hath not seen him, and addeth not. And not again doth his place behold him. His sons do the poor oppress, And his hands give back his wealth. His bones have been full of his youth, And with him on the dust it lieth down. Though he doth sweeten evil in his mouth, Doth hide it under his tongue, Hath pity on it, and doth not forsake it, And keep it back in the midst of his palate, His food in his bowels is turned, The bitterness of asps `is' in his heart. Wealth he hath swallowed, and doth vomit it. From his belly God driveth it out. Gall of asps he sucketh, Slay him doth the tongue of a viper. He looketh not on rivulets, Flowing of brooks of honey and butter. He is giving back `what' he laboured for, And doth not consume `it'; As a bulwark `is' his exchange, and he exults not. For he oppressed -- he forsook the poor, A house he hath taken violently away, And he doth not build it. For he hath not known ease in his belly. With his desirable thing he delivereth not himself. There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good doth not stay. In the fulness of his sufficiency he is straitened. Every perverse hand doth meet him. It cometh to pass, at the filling of his belly, He sendeth forth against him The fierceness of His anger, Yea, He raineth on him in his eating. He fleeth from an iron weapon, Pass through him doth a bow of brass. One hath drawn, And it cometh out from the body, And a glittering weapon from his gall proceedeth. On him `are' terrors. All darkness is hid for his treasures, Consume him doth a fire not blown, Broken is the remnant in his tent. Reveal do the heavens his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him. Remove doth the increase of his house, Poured forth in a day of His anger. This `is' the portion of a wicked man from God. And an inheritance appointed him by God.
Take him up doth an east wind, and he goeth, And it frighteneth him from his place,
Through the pride of the wicked, Is the poor inflamed, They are caught in devices that they devised.
And Thou, O God, dost bring them down To a pit of destruction, Men of blood and deceit reach not to half their days, And I -- I do trust in Thee!
Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations. How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors. As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, their image Thou despisest.
In his wickedness is the wicked driven away, And trustful in his death `is' the righteous.
Nations as the wasting of many waters are wasted, And He hath pushed against it, And it hath fled afar off, And been pursued as chaff of hills before wind, And as a rolling thing before a hurricane.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 58
Commentary on Psalms 58 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 58
Ps 58:1-11. David's critical condition in some period of the Sauline persecution probably occasioned this Psalm, in which the Psalmist teaches that the innate and actual sinfulness of men deserves, and shall receive, God's righteous vengeance, while the pious may be consoled by the evidence of His wise and holy government of men.
1. O congregation—literally, "Oh, dumb"; the word used is never translated "congregation." "Are ye dumb? ye should speak righteousness," may be the translation. In any case, the writer remonstrates with them, perhaps a council, who were assembled to try his cause, and bound to give a right decision.
2. This they did not design; but
weigh … violence—or give decisions of violence. Weigh is a figure to express the acts of judges.
in the earth—publicly.
3-5. describe the wicked generally, who sin naturally, easily, malignantly, and stubbornly.
4. stoppeth her—literally, "his."
ear—that is, the wicked man (the singular used collectively), who thus becomes like the deaf adder which has no ear.
6. He prays for their destruction, under the figure of ravenous beasts (Ps 3:7; 7:2).
7. which run continually—literally, "they shall go to themselves," utterly depart, as rapid mountain torrents.
he bendeth … his arrows—prepares it. The term for preparing a bow applied to arrows (Ps 64:3).
let them … pieces—literally, "as if they cut themselves off"—that is, become blunted and of no avail.
8, 9. Other figures of this utter ruin; the last denoting rapidity. In a shorter time than pots feel the heat of thorns on fire—
9. he shall take them away as with a whirlwind—literally, "blow him (them) away."
both living … wrath—literally, "as the living" or fresh as the heated or burning—that is, thorns—all easily blown away, so easily and quickly the wicked. The figure of the "snail" perhaps alludes to its loss of saliva when moving. Though obscure in its clauses, the general sense of the passage is clear.
10, 11. wash … wicked—denoting great slaughter. The joy of triumph over the destruction of the wicked is because they are God's enemies, and their overthrow shows that He reigneth (compare Ps 52:5-7; 54:7). In this assurance let heaven and earth rejoice (Ps 96:10; 97:1, &c.).