Psalm 58 explained: A Cry Against Corrupt Rulers

Judges who deal in violence (vv. 1-2)

People whose job was to give fair rulings are accused of planning wrongs and handing out violence, as if weighing it on a judge's scales. The Hebrew of verse 1 is uncertain: it may address human rulers or, as some scholars think, divine beings believed to rule the nations.

Wicked from the start (vv. 3-5)

'From the womb' may be a vivid way of saying their wrongdoing runs deep and goes back a long way, though some readers take it as a statement about a corrupt nature people are born with. Snake charming was a real practice, so the cobra that will not listen pictures people no reason or appeal can reach.

A prayer to disarm them (vv. 6-8)

The speaker asks God to pull the teeth of these 'lions,' make their arrows fall short, and let them vanish like spilled water, a slug that seems to melt as it crawls, or a baby that dies before birth. These are harsh, raw images, though the request is for God to act rather than for the speaker to take revenge himself.

Gone in a moment (v. 9)

The Hebrew here is obscure, and translations differ. The general sense is that before a cooking pot even warms over burning thorns, the wicked will be swept away.

Justice made visible (vv. 10-11)

Feet in the blood of the wicked is a battlefield picture of total defeat, and the psalm presents it as a reason for the righteous to be glad. The ending's point is that people will see that doing right is not pointless and that God truly judges the earth.

Key verse: Psalm 58:11

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how to read curse prayers like this alongside Jesus' call to love enemies: some see them as honest prayers that hand anger over to God, some as an earlier stage that Jesus moves beyond, and some as pointing only to God's final judgment.

Something to think about

When people with power use it to harm others, what do you think a fitting response looks like, and where does anger belong in it?