Psalms 58:1-11: a reflection

1Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men? 2No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands on the earth. 3The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies. 4Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like a deaf cobra that stops its ear, 5which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be. 6Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, LORD. 7Let them vanish like water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt. 8Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun. 9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike. 10The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, 11so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

This is a hard psalm to read, a raw cry against corrupt judges who use their power to plot injustice rather than to defend the right. The psalmist sees rulers who should be upholding justice instead measuring out violence, and his response is a torrent of vivid, even startling, pleas for God to stop them and undo their power. It is the anguished outburst of someone confronted with entrenched injustice done by those who should know better, and its outrage is raw and unrestrained.

We may find the psalm's fierce imagery uncomfortable, but notice where the psalmist directs his outrage: to God. He does not take vengeance into his own hands; he pours out his anger at injustice before God and leaves the judgment to him. And the psalm ends with the truth that anchors it all: people will say, surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges the earth. Beneath the fierce language is a deep confidence that God sees injustice and will, in the end, set it right.

This psalm gives you a way to handle your own outrage at injustice, the corruption, cruelty, and abuse of power that rightly anger anyone with a heart. Rather than nursing bitterness or taking revenge, bring your anger honestly to God, as the psalmist did, and entrust the judgment to him. It is not wrong to long fiercely for justice; it is wrong to try to be the judge yourself. Pour out your outrage before the God who judges the earth, and rest in the confidence that he sees, he cares, and he will set things right.

Lord, this psalm's fierce cry against injustice is honest, and it teaches me where to bring my own outrage at cruelty and corruption: to you. Keep me from nursing bitterness or taking revenge into my own hands. Let me pour out my anger at injustice before you and entrust the judgment to you. Thank you that there is a God who judges the earth. You see, you care, and you will set things right. Amen.