No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
Parallel Translations
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No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
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Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
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(58-3) Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out in the earth the violence of your hands.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Psalms 58:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 94:20 Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
- Isaiah 10:1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
- Ecclesiastes 3:16 Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
- Ezekiel 22:27 Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
- Micah 3:1-3 I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice? You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron.
- Psalms 21:11 For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
- Isaiah 26:7 The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.
- Isaiah 59:4-6 No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Jeremiah 22:16-17 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so it was well, then. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh. But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
- Ezekiel 22:12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Micah 3:9-12 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.” Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.
- Malachi 3:15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’
- John 11:47-53 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2. Yea, rather, in heart ye plot wickedness. In…
2. Yea, rather, in heart ye plot wickedness. In the former verse he complained of the gross shamelessness manifested in their conduct. Now he charges them both with entertaining wickedness in their thoughts, and practising it with their hands. I have accordingly translated the Hebrew article אף, aph, yea, rather — it being evident that David proceeds, after first repelling the calumnies of his enemies, to the further step of challenging them with the sins which they had themselves committed. The second clause of the verse may be rendered in two different ways, ye weigh violence with your hands, or, your hands weigh violence; and as the meaning is the same, it is immaterial which the reader may adopt. Some think that he uses the figurative expression, to weigh, in allusion to the pretense of equity under which he was persecuted, as if he were a disturber of the peace, and chargeable with treason and contumacy towards the king. In all probability, his enemies glossed over their oppression with plausible pretences, such as hypocrites are never slow to discover. But the Hebrew word פלס, phalas, admits of a wider signification, to frame or set in order; and nothing more may be meant than that they put into shape the sins which they had first conceived in their thoughts. It is added, upon the earth, to denote the unbridled license of their wickedness, which was done openly, and not in places where concealment might have been practiced.
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 Ye are not ashamed to execute that cruelty publicly,…
Ye are not ashamed to execute that cruelty publicly, which ye have imagined in your hearts.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 58:2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye…
Psa 58:2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
Ver. 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness] These the devil worketh it as in a forge; ye are always plotting and ploughing mischief, and that not so much for fear of Saul, or to please him, as out of the naughtiness of your own hearts; and all this you know in your consciences to be true. Kimchi saith, that the word Aph, or yea, importeth, that their hearts were made for a better purpose; and therefore their sin was the greater. Corruptio optimi pessima.
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Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth] i.e. Your bribes, saith Kimchi; these we weigh or poise, quasi essent recta, as if there were no hurt in them: so Demosthenes weighed Harpalus’s goblet, to the great danger of his country, and his own indelible infamy. Manus vestrae concinnant iniquitatem (Vul.). The Arabic rendereth it, Manus vestrae in tenebris immersae sunt, your hands are drowned in darkness; you seem to do all according to law and justice (pictured with a pair of balances in her hand), when, indeed, you weigh out wrong for right, and do things κατα προσκλισιν, by partiality, 1Ti 5:21, by tilting the balance on the one side, Trutina iustior. Prov. ζυγον μη παραBαινειν (Pythag. Symb.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain In heart; or, with your heart; with free choice…
In heart; or, with your heart; with free choice and consent, and not only by constraint, and out of compliance with Saul.
Ye weigh the violence of your hands; or, you weigh violence or injustice with your hands. The phrase of weighing hath respect to their office, which was to administer justice, which is usually expressed by a pair of balances. So he intimates that they did great wrong under the pretence and with the formalities of justice; and whilst they scented exactly to weigh and consider the true and fit proportion between the actions and the recompences allotted to them, they turned the scale; and partly to curry favour with Saul, and partly from their own malice against David, pronounced an unjust sentence against him. In the earth; or, in this land, where God is present, and where you have righteous laws to govern you, and you profess better things.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Yea, in heart ye work wickedness,.... So far were…
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 guilty of; whose business it is to plead the cause of the injured and oppressed, to right their wrongs, and to protect and defend them: these they pretended to weigh in the balance of justice and equity, and committed them under a show of righteousness; they decreed unrighteous decrees, and framed mischief by a law; and this they did openly, and everywhere, throughout the whole land.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Heart - With free choice and consent. Hands -…
Heart - With free choice and consent. Hands - He intimates that they did great wrong under the pretense of justice, and while they seemed exactly to weigh the true proportion between the actions and the recompenses allotted to them, they turned the scale; and pronounced an unjust sentence. Land - Or, in this land, where God is present, and where you have righteous laws to govern you.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness] With…
Verse 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness] With their tongues they had spoken maliciously, and given evil counsel. In their hearts they meditated nothing but wickedness. And though in their hands they held the scales of justice, yet in their use of them they were balances of injustice and violence. This is the fact to which the psalmist alludes, and the figure which he uses is that of justice with her scales or balances, which, though it might be the emblem of the court, yet it did not prevail in the practice of these magistrates and counsellors.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 58:2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness —…
Psa 58:2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness — Or, with your heart, that is, with free choice and consent; with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it, and resolution in it, and not merely by constraint, and out of compliance with Saul, or through surprise and inadvertence. The more there is of the heart in any act of wickedness, the worse it is. Ye weigh the violence of your hands — Or, you weigh violence, or injustice, with your hands. The phrase of weighing hath respect to their office, which was to administer justice, which is usually expressed by a pair of balances. So he intimates that they did great wrong under the pretence and with the formalities of justice; and while they seemed exactly to weigh the true proportion between men’s actions and the recompenses allotted to them, they turned the scale, and pronounced an unjust sentence. In the earth — Or, in this land, where God is present, and where you have righteous laws to govern you, and you profess better things.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Yea, in heart ye work wickedness - Whatever might…
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness - Whatever might be the outward appearances, whatever pretences they might make to just judgment, yet in fact their hearts were set on wickedness, and they were conscious of doing wrong.
Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth - It is difficult to attach any meaning to this language; the translators evidently felt that they could not express the meaning of the original; and they, therefore, gave what seems to be a literal translation of the Hebrew. The Septuagint renders it, “In heart you work iniquity in the land; your hands weave together iniquity.” The Latin Vulgate: “In heart you work iniquity; in the land your hands prepare injustice.” Luther: “Yea, willingly do you work iniquity in the land, and go straight through to work evil with your hands.” Professor Alexander: “In the land, the violence of your hands ye weigh.” Perhaps the true translation of the whole verse would be, “Yea, in heart ye work iniquity in the land; ye weigh (weigh out) the violence of your hands;” that is, the deeds of violence or wickedness which your hands commit. The idea of “weighing” them, or “weighing them out,” is derived from the administration of justice. In all lands people are accustomed to speak of “weighing out” justice; to symbolize its administration by scales and balances; and to express the doing of it as holding an even balance. Compare Job 31:6, note; Dan 5:27, note; Rev 6:5, note. Thus interpreted, this verse refers, as Psa 58:1, to the act of pronouncing judgment; and the idea is that instead of pronouncing a just judgment - of holding an equal balance - they determined in favor of violence - of acts of oppression and wrong to be committed by their own hands. That which they weighed out, or dispensed, was not a just sentence, but violence, wrong, injustice, crime.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain This they did not design; but
This they did not design; but
weigh . . . violence--or give decisions of violence. Weigh is a figure to express the acts of judges.
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in the earth--publicly.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Yea, in heart—Here is the seat of all…
2. Yea, in heart—Here is the seat of all iniquity. They sinned, not from ignorance, but from disposition and intention.
Ye weigh—Ironically spoken. They professed to use equity and truth as weights in the scale of justice, but instead, they weighed violence. On “weigh” see note on Psa_78:50. The “violence of” their hands, is “violence” which they themselves have wrought out by using, in their administration, tricks and devices instead of the forms of justice.
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In the earth—In the land; that is, publicly in all the kingdom. What the “heart” secretly devised, the hands fabricated into plans and written decrees, which become public law.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Yea] Or, Nay, for the particle implies a…
2. Yea] Or, Nay, for the particle implies a negative answer, and an additional accusation. Far from judging equitably, you are yourselves the greatest offenders.
in heart] Inwardly they are ever contriving some scheme of injustice, like the nobles against whom Micah inveighs (Psa_2:1), as “working evil upon their beds.”
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ye weigh] R.V., ye weigh out. There is a bitter irony in the use of a word strictly applicable to justice only. For the metaphor of the ‘scales of justice’ cp. Job_31:6.
in the earth] Or, in the land; publicly and openly, carrying into execution the schemes they contrive in their hearts. Cp. Mic_2:1.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) In heart . . . in the earth…
(2) In heart . . . in the earth (or, better, in the land).—These in the text are in antithesis. The mischief conceived in the heart is weighed out, instead of justice, by these unjust magistrates. The balance of justice is thus turned into a means of wrong-doing. But, perhaps, we should rather arrange as follows:
Nay! with your heart ye work wickedness in the land,
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With your hands you weigh out violence.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; literally, wickednesses, or…
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; literally, wickednesses, or iniquities. These ye first devise in your heart, and then (see the next clause) carry out with your hands. Ye weigh (or, weigh out) the violence of your hands in the earth. Instead of carefully meting out justice to men, after accurately weighing it in the balance of right and equity, you weigh out to them mere wrong and "violence."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness. Down…
Ver. 2. 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 case, so the malicious dispense injustice with malice aforethought in cold blood. Note in this verse that the men described sinned with heart and hand; privately in their heart, publicly in the earth; they worked and they weighed--they were active, and yet deliberate. See what a generation saints have to deal with! Such were the foes of our Lord, a generation of vipers, an evil and adulterous generation; they sought to kill him because he was righteousness itself, yet they masked their hatred to his goodness by charging him with sin.
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Ver. 2. In heart ye work wickedness, etc. The psalmist doth not say, they had wickedness in their heart, but that they did work it there: the heart is a shop within, an underground shop; there they did closely contrive, forge, and hammer out their wicked purposes, and fit them into actions; yea, they weighed the violence of their hands in the earth. That's an allusion to merchants, who buy and sell by weight; they weigh their commodity to an ounce; they do not give it out in gross, but by exact weight. This saith the psalmist, they weigh the violence of their hands; they do not oppress grossly, but with a kind of exactness and skill, they sit down and consider what and how much violence they may use in such a case, or how much such a person may endure, or such a season may bear. They are wiser than to do all at once, or all to one, lest they spoil all. They weigh what they do, though what they do be so bad that it will hold no weight when God comes to weigh it. Nor do they arrive at this skill presently, but after they have, as it were, served an apprenticeship at it; and they bind themselves to the trade very early; for as it follows at the third verse of the Psalm, The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies, that is, they are estranged both by nature and by early practice; they lose no time, they go to it young, even "as soon as they are born, "as soon as they are fit for any use, or to do any thing, they are using and setting themselves to do wickedly. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 2. The word twlwe wickedness properly signifies the inclinations of scales, when the scale weighs down to one side; then it is transferred to respect of persons, to injustice and iniquity, especially in public tribunals and decisions, as in Ps 82:2, How long will ye judge lwe by an unjust inclination of the scales? Hermann Venema.
Ver. 2. The principles of the wicked are even worse than their practices: premeditated violence is doubly guilty. George Rogers.
None.
Psalms 58:3*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Yea, in heart ye work wickedness.
Psa_58:2
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness.
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Sin in the heart
There once sailed from the city of Orleans a large and noble steamer, laden with cotton, and having a great number of passengers on board. While they were taking in the cargo, a portion of it became slightly moistened by a shower of rain that was falling. This circumstance, however, was not noticed; the cotton was stowed away in the hold, and the hatches fastened down. All went well at first, but one day an alarm of fire was made, and in a few moments the whole ship was enveloped in flames. The damp and closely packed bale of cotton had become heated, and it smouldered and got into a more dangerous state every day, until it burst forth into a large sheet of flame, and nothing could be done to quench it. Now, that heated cotton, smouldering in the hull of the vessel, is like sin in the heart. Do not let us think lightly of sin, speaking of little sins and big sins, white lies and black lies. Sin is sin in Gods sight, and God hates sin. (N. Jones.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.