Psalm 58 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Psa 58:1

Psa 58:1For the choir director: A psalm[fn] of David, to be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”

Justice—do you rulers[fn] know the meaning of the word?
Do you judge the people fairly?

Psa 58:2

Psa 58:2No! You plot injustice in your hearts.
You spread violence throughout the land.

Psa 58:3

Psa 58:3These wicked people are born sinners;
even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.

Psa 58:4

Psa 58:4They spit venom like deadly snakes;
they are like cobras that refuse to listen,

Psa 58:5

Psa 58:5ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers,
no matter how skillfully they play.

Psa 58:6

Psa 58:6Break off their fangs, O God!
Smash the jaws of these lions, O LORD!

Psa 58:7

Psa 58:7May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.
Make their weapons useless in their hands.[fn]

Psa 58:8

Psa 58:8May they be like snails that dissolve into slime,
like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.

Psa 58:9

Psa 58:9God will sweep them away, both young and old,
faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.

Psa 58:10

Psa 58:10The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged.
They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Psa 58:11

Psa 58:11Then 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.”

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(58:1)

Hebrew miktam. This may be a literary or musical term.

(58:1)

Or you gods.

(58:7)

Or Let them be trodden down and wither like grass. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

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For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.