English Standard Version
Psalms 58:8
8Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
Psalms 58:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)As 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.
- New International Version (NIV)May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
- New Living Translation (NLT)May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
Context of Psalms 58:8
6O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord! 7Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun. 9Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away! 10The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Read all of Psalms 58Psalms 58:8 word by word
כְּמ֣וֹ שַׁ֭בְּלוּל תֶּ֣מֶס יַהֲלֹ֑ךְ נֵ֥פֶל אֵ֝֗שֶׁת בַּל־חָ֥זוּ שָֽׁמֶשׁ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 58:8
- Psalms 37:35I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
- Matthew 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- James 1:10and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
- Job 3:16Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?
- Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
Commentaries on Psalms 58:8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8As a snail which melteth - The Chaldee reads the verse thus: "They shall melt away in their sins as water flows off; as the creeping snail that smears its track; as the untimely birth and the blind mole, which do not see the sun." The original word שבלול shablul, a snail, is either from שביל shebil, a path, because it leaves a shining path after it by emitting a portion of slime, and thus glaring the ground; and therefore might be emphatically called the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away - Or rather, As the snail which melteth as it goes; that is, which leaves a slimy trail as it moves along, and thus melts away the more as it advances, until at length it dies. Gesenius, Lexicon. The allusion is to what seems to occur to the snail; it seems to melt or to be dissolved as it moves along; or seems to leave a part of itself in the slime which flows from it. Like the untimely birth of a…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-11Verses 6-11 David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not from revenge, but from a view of the Divine mercy, justice, and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8When moving over dry ground, slugs dry up.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 8-98-9. Other figures of this utter ruin; the last denoting rapidity. In a shorter time than pots feel the heat of thorns on fire--Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 58:8
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries