Psalms 58:2

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

1Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. 3The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies. 4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;

Psalms 58:2 word by word

אַף־בְּלֵב֮ עוֹלֹ֪ת תִּפְעָ֫ל֥וּן בָּאָ֡רֶץ חֲמַ֥ס יְ֝דֵיכֶ֗ם תְּפַלֵּֽסֽוּן׃Read the interlinear

Cross-references for Psalms 58:2

• Psalms 21:11For they intended evil against thee; they imagined a mischievous device, which they could not execute.
• Ecclesiastes 3:16And moreover I saw under the sun, that in the place of judgment, wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there.
• Isaiah 59:4none calleth for justice, none pleadeth in truthfulness. They trust in vanity, and speak falsehood; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
• Jeremiah 22:16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah.
• Ezekiel 22:12In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast overreached thy neighbours by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah.
• Micah 3:1And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgment?
• John 11:47The chief priests, therefore, and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many signs.
• Psalms 94:20Shall the throne of wickedness be united to thee, which frameth mischief into a law?
• Isaiah 10:1Woe unto them that decree iniquitous decrees, and to the writers that prescribe oppression,
• Isaiah 26:7The way of the just is uprightness: thou, the Upright, dost make the path of the just even.

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

• Depravity of Man
• Judge
• Rulers

In the dictionaries

• Altaschith
• Michtam
• Psalms
• Wickedness
• Psalms, Book of
• Song
• commit, committed

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