Tap any verse number for what that verse means.
1Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8As 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.
9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
Understand This
Psalm 58, explained
What Psalm 58 is saying
An imprecatory psalm that functions as a prophetic indictment of corrupt rulers, Psalm 58 opens with a courtroom-style challenge to unjust judges and escalates through vivid curse imagery. The wicked are compared to venomous serpents immune to the snake charmer's voice, and the imprecations include dissolution like a snail's trail and miscarriage imagery. The psalm concludes with vindication theology—the righteous will rejoice when justice prevails.
The background behind it
The psalm addresses the elim or elohim—likely human judges who bear divine titles by virtue of their role administering justice. This reflects the ancient Near Eastern concept of rulers as representatives of divine order, making their corruption a cosmic offense.
Themes running underneath
The psalm confronts systemic injustice at the highest levels, insisting that corrupt power structures cannot escape divine judgment. The serpent imagery suggests that wickedness in leadership is not merely error but deliberate, venomous malice. The shocking imprecatory language reflects the psalm's function as prophetic speech, not personal vendetta.
Why it still matters
Psalm 58 challenges comfortable theologies that avoid the reality of structural evil. It models the practice of entrusting the desire for justice to God rather than taking vengeance, even when the language of that entrustment is fierce.
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.