God’s Word Translation
Psalms 58:8
8Let them become like a snail that leaves behind a slimy trail or like a 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who 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.
Context of Psalms 58:8
6O God, knock the teeth out of their mouths. Break the young lions’ teeth, O Lord. 7Let them disappear like water that drains away. When they aim their bows, let their arrows miss the target. Let them become like a snail that leaves behind a slimy trail or like a stillborn child who never sees the sun. 9Let ⌞God⌟ sweep them away faster than a cooking pot is heated by burning twigs. 10Righteous people will rejoice when they see ⌞God⌟ take revenge. They will wash their feet in the blood of wicked people.
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 person ⌞acting like⌟ a tyrant, spreading himself out like a large cedar tree.
- Matthew 24:35The earth and the heavens will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
- James 1:10Rich believers should be proud because being rich should make them humble. Rich people will wither like flowers.
- Job 3:16I would be buried like a stillborn baby. I would not exist. I would be like infants who never saw the light.
- Ecclesiastes 6:3Suppose a rich person wasn’t satisfied with good things ⌞while he was alive⌟ and didn’t even get an honorable burial ⌞after he died⌟. Suppose he had a hundred children and lived for many years. No matter how long he would have lived, it ⌞still⌟ would have been better for him to have been born dead.
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries