Amplified Bible
Psalms 58:2
2No, in your heart you devise wrongdoing; On earth you deal out the violence of your hands.
Psalms 58:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
- New International Version (NIV)No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
- English Standard Version (ESV)No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
Context of Psalms 58:2
1Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods (heavenly beings)? Do you judge fairly, O sons of men? No, in your heart you devise wrongdoing; On earth you deal out the violence of your hands. 3The wicked are estranged from the womb; These go astray from birth, speaking lies [even twisted partial truths]. 4Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,
Read all of Psalms 58Psalms 58:2 word by word
אַף־בְּלֵב֮ עוֹלֹ֪ת תִּפְעָ֫ל֥וּן בָּאָ֡רֶץ חֲמַ֥ס יְ֝דֵיכֶ֗ם תְּפַלֵּֽסֽוּן׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 58:2
- Psalms 21:11For they planned evil against You; They devised a [malevolent] plot And they will not succeed.
- Ecclesiastes 3:16Moreover, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.
- Isaiah 59:4No one sues righteously [but for the sake of doing injury to others—to take some undue advantage], and no one pleads [his case] in truth; [but rather] They trust in empty arguments and speak lies; They conceive trouble and bring forth injustice.
- Jeremiah 22:16He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then all was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?” Says the Lord.
- Ezekiel 22:12In you they have accepted bribes to shed blood; you have taken [forbidden] interest and [a percentage of] profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression and extortion, and you have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.
- Micah 3:1And I said, “Hear now, heads of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know and administer justice?
- John 11:47So the chief priests and Pharisees convened a council [of the leaders in Israel], and said, “What are we doing? For this man performs many signs (attesting miracles).
- Psalms 94:20Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, One which frames and devises mischief by decree [under the sacred name of law]?
- Isaiah 10:1Woe (judgment is coming) to those [judges] who issue evil statutes, And to those [magistrates] who constantly record unjust and oppressive decisions,
- Isaiah 26:7The way of the righteous [those in right-standing with God—living in moral and spiritual integrity] is smooth and level; O Upright One, make a level path for the just and righteous.
Commentaries on Psalms 58:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness - With their tongues they had spoken maliciously, and given evil counsel. In their hearts they meditated nothing but wickedness. And though in their hands they held the scales of justice, yet in their use of them they were balances of injustice and violence. This is the fact to which the psalmist alludes, and the figure which he uses is that of justice with her scales or balances, which, though it might be the emblem of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness - Whatever might be the outward appearances, whatever pretences they might make to just judgment, yet in fact their hearts were set on wickedness, and they were conscious of doing wrong. Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth - It is difficult to attach any meaning to this language; the translators evidently felt that they could not express the meaning of the original; and they, therefore, gave what seems to be a…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-5The administrators of justice were furthering their own interests rather than those of the needy. The absence of justice gradually resulted in a violent society.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. 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.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 58:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 58
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
Amplified Bible — © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631
Commentaries