Back to Psalms 58

Psalms 58:11

so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

  • KJV King James Version

    So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (58-12) And men shall say: 'Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.'

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Cross-references (17)

Passages linked to Psalms 58:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Psalms 67:4 Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth.
  • Isaiah 3:10 Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
  • Psalms 64:9 All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done.
  • Psalms 33:18 Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness,
  • Malachi 2:17 You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’
  • Malachi 3:14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?
  • Romans 2:5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
  • Psalms 98:9 Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
  • Romans 6:21-22 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
  • Psalms 73:13-15 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus”; behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
  • 2 Peter 3:4-10 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God, by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
  • Psalms 9:8 He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
  • Psalms 18:20 Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me.
  • Psalms 92:15 to show that Yahweh is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
  • Psalms 94:2 Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
  • Psalms 96:13 before Yahweh; for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, the peoples with his truth.
  • Psalms 9:16 Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (12 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. So that a man shall say, Verily there…

11. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward. We have additional evidence from what is here said of the cause or source of it, that the joy attributed to the saints has no admixture of bad feeling. It is noticeable from the way in which this verse runs, that David would now seem to ascribe to all, without exception, the sentiment which before he imputed exclusively to the righteous. But the acknowledgement immediately subjoined is one which could only come from the saints who have an eye to observe the divine dispensations; and I am, therefore, of opinion that they are specially alluded to in the expression, And a man shall say, etc At the same time, this mode of speech may imply that many, whose minds had been staggered, would be established in the faith. The righteous only are intended, but the indefinite form of speaking is adopted to denote their numbers. It is well known how many there are whose faith is apt to be shaken by apparent inequalities and perplexities in the divine administration, but who rally courage, and undergo a complete change of views, when the arm of God is bared in the manifestation of his judgments. At such a time the acknowledgement expressed in this verse is widely and extensively adopted, as Isaiah declares,

“When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness,” (Isaiah 26:9.)

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The Hebrew particle אך, ach, which we have translated verily, occasionally denotes simple affirmation, but is generally intensitive, and here implies the contrast between that unbelief which we are tempted to feel when God has suspended the exercise of his judgments, and the confidence with which we are inspired when he executes them. Thus the particles which are repeated in the verse imply that men would put away that hesitancy which is apt to steal upon their minds when God forbears the infliction of the punishment of sin, and, as it were, correct themselves for the error into which they had been seduced. Nothing tends more to promote godliness than an intimate and assured persuasion that the righteous shall never lose their reward. Hence the language of Isaiah, “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings,” (Isaiah 3:10.) When righteousness is not rewarded, we are disposed to cherish unbelieving fears, and to imagine that God has retired from the government of the world, and is indifferent to its concerns. I shall have an opportunity of treating this point more at large upon the seventy-third psalm.

There is subjoined the reason why the righteous cannot fail to reap the reward of their piety, because God is the judge of the world; it being impossible, on the supposition of the world being ruled by the providence of God, that he should not, sooner or later, distinguish between the good and the evil. He is said more particularly to judge in the earth, because men have sometimes profanely alleged that the government of God is confined to heaven, and the affairs of this world abandoned to blind chance.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Seeing God governeth all by his providence, he must…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 58:11 So that a man shall say, Verily…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And these administrations of God’s providence shall be so…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So that a man shall say,.... Any man, and…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. So that a man shall say] That…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 58:11. So that a man shall say, &c.…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So that a man shall say - That is,…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. So that a man shall say] Rather, So…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain So that a man shall say, Verily there is…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 11. So that a man shall say. Every…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 58:11 Vindication is the reward of those who live…

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