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Psalm 58
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| 58:1
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O
ye sons of men? |
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| 58:2
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in
the earth. |
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| 58:3
The wicked are
estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies. |
Wicked people are wicked from birth -- God
made them that way. They tell lies immediately after birth (before they can even
talk!).
 "They have fury according to the likeness of a serpent"
(Unknown, 12th Century)
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| 58:4
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder
that stoppeth her ear;
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| 58:5
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
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| 58:6
Break their teeth, O
God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O
LORD. |
(58:6-7)
The psalmist devoutly prays: "Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth ... let them be
cut in pieces."
How should we treat our enemies?
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| 58:7
Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his
bow to shoot his arrows, let
them be as cut in pieces.
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| 58:8
As a snail which
melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a
woman, that they may not see the sun. |
"As a snail melteth"
Snails don't melt; they simply leave a slimy trail as they move along.
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| 58:9
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a
whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. |
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| 58:10
The righteous shall
rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of
the wicked. |
"The righteous shall
rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked."
"The righteous" will rejoice when he sees "the wicked" being dismembered by God.
He'll even get a chance to wash his feet in their blood. Now that's entertainment!
Should we rejoice to see our enemies suffer?
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| 58:11
So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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