the heart · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
work
תִּפְעָ֫ל֥וּןtif.'A.Lun
H6466
to do or make (systematically and habitually) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
wickedness
עוֹלֹ֪תo.Lot
H5766
(moral) evil · noun, common feminine plural absolute
weigh
תְּפַלֵּֽסֽוּןte.fa.Le.Sun
H6424
properly · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
violence
חֲמַ֥סcha.Mas
H2555
violence · noun, common masculine singular construct
hands
יְ֝דֵיכֶ֗םye.dei.Khem
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
earth
בָּאָ֡רֶץba.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 94:20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
Isaiah 10:1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
Ecclesiastes 3:16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
Ezekiel 22:27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
Micah 3:1-3 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
Psalms 21:11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
Isaiah 26:7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
Isaiah 59:4-6 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 58:1-5
We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription (Al-taschith, and Michtam of David) with that which goes before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have been penned with reference to that persecution through which God preserved him (Al-taschith - Destroy not), and therefore the psalms he then penned were precious to him, Michtams - David's jewels, as Dr. Hammond translates it.
In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecut…
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.
John Gill on Psalms 58:2
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness,.... So far were they from speaking righteousness, and judging uprightly. The heart of man is wickedness itself; it is desperately wicked, and is the shop in which all wickedness is wrought; for sinful acts are committed there as well as by the tongue and hand, as follows. This phrase also denotes their sinning; not with precipitancy, and through surprise; but with premeditation and deliberation; and their doing it heartily, with good will, and with allowance, and their continuance and constant persisting in it;
ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth; they were guilty of acts of violence and oppression, which, of all men, judges should not be guilt…
Psalm 58:1-5
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? O congregation! do ye judge uprightly? O ye sons of men! 2. Yea, rather in heart ye plot wickedness; your hands weigh out violence upon the earth. 3. They are estranged, being wicked from the womb: they went astray as soon as they were born, speaking lies. 4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear: 5. Which will not hearken to the voice of the enchanter, charm he never so wisely.
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? In putting this question to his enemies, by way of challenge, David displays the boldness of conscious rectitude. It argues that the justice of our cause is demonstrative…
The Church Fathers
But now ye do what? Why these things to you do I speak? "Because in heart iniquities ye work on earth" [Psalm 58:2]. Iniquities perchance in heart alone? Hear what followeth: both their heart hands do follow, and their heart hands do serve, the thing is thought of, and it is done; or else it is not done, not because we would not, but because we could not, Whatever Thou Willest and Canst Not, for Done God Doth Count It. "For in heart Iniquities ye work on earth." What next? "Iniquities your hands knit together." What is, "knit together"? From sin, sin, and to sin, sin, because of sin. What is this? A theft a man hath committed, a sin it is: he hath been seen, he seeketh to slay him by whom he hath been seen: there hath been knit together sin with sin: God hath permitted him in His hidden judgment to slay that man whom he hath willed to slay: he perceiveth that the thing is known, he seeketh to slay a second also; he hath knit together a third sin: while these things he is planning, perchance that he may not be found out, or that he may not be convicted of having done it, he consulteth an astrologer; there is added a fourth sin: the astrologer answereth perchance with some hard and evil responses, he runneth to a soothsayer, that expiation may be made; the soothsayer maketh answer that he is not able to expiate: a magician is sought. And who could enumerate those sins which are knit together with sins? "Iniquities your hands do knit together." So long as thou knittest together, thou bindest sin upon sin. Loose thyself from sins. But I am not able, thou sayest. Cry to Him. "Unhappy man I, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" [Romans 7:24] For there shall come the Grace of God, so that righteousness shall be thy delight, as much as thou didst delight in iniquity; and thou, a man that out of bonds hast been loosed, shall cry out to God, "Thou hast broken asunder my bonds." "Thou hast broken asunder my bonds," is what else but, "Thou hast remitted my sins"? Hear why chains they are: the Scripture maketh answer, "with the chains of his sins each one is bound fast." [Proverbs 5:22] Not only bonds, but chains also they are. Chains are those which are made by twisting in: that is, because with sins sins thou wast knitting together....
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Altaschith — Destroy not, the title of Ps. 57, 58, 59, and 75. It was probably the name of some song to the melody of which these psalms were to be chanted.
Depravity Of Man · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hands, The · Of the wicked, described as: Violent — Of the wicked, described as: Violent
Injustice · Saints should: Testify against — Saints should: Testify against
Judge · CHARACTER OF, AND PRECEPTS RELATING TO — CHARACTER OF, AND PRECEPTS RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The text of Psa 58:2 runs: Do ye really dictate the silence of righteousness? i.e., that before which righteousness must become silent, as the collector (cf. Psa 56:1) appears to have read it (אלם = אלּוּם, B. Chullin 89a). But instead of אלם it is, with Houbigant, J. D. Michaelis, Mendelssohn, and others, to be read אלם (= אלים, as in Exo 15:11), as an apostrophe of those who discharge the godlike office of rulers and judges. Both the interrogative האמנם (with ŭ as is always the case at the head of interrogative clauses), num vere, which proceeds from doubt as to the questionable matter of fact (Num 22:37; Kg1 8:27; Ch2 6:18), and the parallel member of the verse, and also the historical c…
Ps 58 The administration of justice is a mark of good government. God expects nothing less from his people. The psalmist condemns Israel’s leaders for abusing their power, and he calls on the Lord to rain down his curses upon the wicked. The demonstration of divine justice will reassure the godly that God is just.
58:1-5 The administrators of justice were furthering their own interests rather than those of the needy. The absence of justice gradually resulted in a violent society.
58:1 rulers (or gods): This designation was used for high officials and administrators of justice (82:1, 6). Elsewhere, it might refer to angelic creatures (89:7) or to the gods of the nations (82:1; Dan 11:36).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 58:2
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness. Down deep in your very souls ye hold a rehearsal of the injustice ye intend to practise, and when your opportunity arrives, ye wreak vengeance with a gusto; your hearts are in your wicked work, and your hands are therefore ready enough. Those very men who sat as judges, and pretended to so much indignation at the faults imputed to their victim, were in their hearts perpetrating all manner of evil. Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. They were deliberate sinners, cold, calculating villains. As righteous judges ponder the law, balance the evidence, and weigh the…
