Psalms 3:7(v6)Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
Proverbs 10:25(v9)When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever.
Joshua 7:5(v7)The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent.…
Psalms 112:10(v7)The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.
Psalms 118:12(v9)They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In Yahweh’s name I cut them off.
Show all 41 cross-references
Ecclesiastes 7:6(v9)For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.
Job 3:16(v8)or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
Ecclesiastes 6:3(v8)If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good,…
Hosea 5:14(v6)For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry…
Exodus 15:15(v7)Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Joshua 2:9-11(v7)She said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants…
Job 4:10-11(v6)The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perishes for lack of…
Job 29:17(v6)I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
Psalms 10:15(v6)Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.
Psalms 17:12(v6)He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
Psalms 37:35-36(v8)I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not.…
Psalms 64:3(v7)who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,
Isaiah 13:7(v7)Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt.
Isaiah 17:13(v9)The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the…
Jeremiah 23:19(v9)Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm: It will burst on the head of the wicked.
Micah 5:8(v6)The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among…
James 1:10(v8)and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
Numbers 16:30(v9)But if Yahweh makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive…
Numbers 23:24(v6)Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the…
2 Samuel 17:10(v7)Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man,…
Job 18:18(v9)He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Job 20:5-29(v9)that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his…
Job 27:21(v9)The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.
Psalms 10:2(v9)In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
Psalms 10:5(v9)His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.
Psalms 22:14(v7)I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.
Psalms 55:23(v9)But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I…
Psalms 64:7-8(v7)But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow. Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake…
Psalms 73:18-20(v9)Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away…
Psalms 91:13(v6)You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
Proverbs 1:27(v9)when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you.
Proverbs 14:32(v9)The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
Isaiah 31:4(v6)For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him,…
Isaiah 40:24(v9)They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they…
Ezekiel 30:21-26(v6)“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind…
Matthew 24:35(v8)Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv6, 8, 96. Break their teeth, O God! in their mouth…
6. Break their teeth, O God! in their mouth From this part of the psalm he assumes the language of imprecation, and solicits the vengeance of God, whose peculiar prerogative it is to repel oppression and vindicate injured innocence. It is necessary, however, that we attend to the manner in which this is done. He does not claim the judgment or patronage of God to his cause, until he had, in the first place, asserted his integrity, and stated his complaint against the malicious conduct of his enemies; for God can never be expected to undertake a cause which is unworthy of defense. In the verse before us, he prays that God would crush the wicked, and restrain the violence of their rage. By their teeth, he would intimate that they resembled wild beasts in their desire to rend and destroy the victims of their oppression; and this is brought out more clearly in the latter part of the verse, where he likens them to lions The comparison denotes the fury with which they were bent upon his destruction.
In the next verse, and in the several succeeding verses, he prosecutes the same purpose, employing a variety of apt similitudes. He prays that God would make them flow away like waters, that is, swiftly. The expression indicates the greatness of his faith. His enemies were before his eyes in all the array of their numbers and resources; he saw that their power was deeply rooted and firmly established; the whole nation was against him, and seemed to rise up before him like a hopeless and formidable barrier of rocky mountains. To pray that this solid and prodigious opposition should melt down and disappear, evidenced no small degree of courage, and the event could only appear credible to one who had learnt to exalt the power of God above all intervening obstacles. In the comparison which immediately follows, he prays that the attempts of his adversaries might be frustrated, the meaning of the words being, that their arrows might fall powerless, as if broken, when they bent their bow. Actuated as they were by implacable cruelty, he requests that God would confound their enterprises, and in this we are again called to admire his unshaken courage, which could contemplate the formidable preparations of his enemies as completely at the disposal of God, and their whole power as lying at his feet. Let his example in this particular point be considered. Let us not cease to pray, even after the arrows of our enemies have been fitted to the string, and destruction might seem inevitable.
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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv6, 7, 9Take away all occasions and means whereby they hurt.
Take away all occasions and means whereby they hurt.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Psa 58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their…
Psa 58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
Ver. 6. Break their teeth, O God] Disarm and disable them from doing me mischief. See Psa 3:7; Psa 10:13; Psa 57:4, to which last he seemeth here to refer.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Their teeth; their power and instruments of doing mischief.…
Their teeth; their power and instruments of doing mischief. He mentions teeth, partly because the adder’s poison lies in its teeth; and partly to make way for the following metaphor.
The great teeth, called the grinders; which are more sharp and strong than the rest, and more used in breaking and tearing what they are about to eat.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v6In these verses we have,
In these verses we have,
I. David's prayers against his enemies, and all the enemies of God's church and people; for it is as such that he looks upon them, so that he was actuated by a public spirit in praying against them, and not by any private revenge. 1. He prays that they might be disabled to do any further mischief (Psa 58:6): Break their teeth, O God! Not so much that they might not feed themselves as that they might not be able to make prey of others, Psa 3:7. He does not say, "Break their necks" (no; let them live to repent, slay them not, lest my people forget), but, "Break their teeth, for they are lions, they are young lions, that live by rapine." 2. That they might be disappointed in the plots they had already laid, and might not gain their point: "When he bends his bow, and takes aim to shoot his arrows at the upright in heart, let them be as cut in pieces, Psa 58:7. Let them fall at his feet, and never come near the mark." 3. That they and their interest might waste and come to nothing, that they might melt away as waters that run continually; that is, as the waters of a land-flood, which, though they seem formidable for a while, soon soak into the ground or return to their channels, or, in general, as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, but gradually dries away and disappears. Such shall the floods of ungodly men be, which sometimes make us afraid (Psa 18:4); so shall the proud waters be reduced, which threaten to go over our soul, Psa 124:4, Psa 124:5. Let us by faith then see what they shall be and then we shall not fear what they are. He prays (Psa 58:8) that they might melt as a snail, which wastes by its own motion, in every stretch it makes leaving some of its moisture behind, which, by degrees, must needs consume it, though it makes a path to shine after it. He that like a snail in her house is plenus sui - full of himself, that pleases himself and trusts to himself, does but consume himself, and will quickly bring himself to nothing. And he prays that they might be like the untimely birth of a woman, which dies as soon as it begins to live and never sees the sun. Job, in his passion, wished he himself had been such a one (Job 3:16), but he knew not what he said. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the church's enemies, as the prophet does (Hos 9:14, Give them, O Lord! what wilt thou give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts), which explains this prayer of the psalmist.
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II. His prediction of their ruin (Psa 58:9): "Before your pots can feel the heat of a fire of thorns made under them (which they will presently do, for it is a quick fire and violent while it lasts), so speedily, with such a hasty and violent flame, God shall hurry them away, as terribly and as irresistibly as with a whirlwind, as it were alive, as it were in fury."
1. The proverbial expressions are somewhat difficult, but the sense is plain, (1.) That the judgments of God often surprise wicked people in the midst of their jollity, and hurry them away of a sudden. When they are beginning to walk in the light of their own fire, and the sparks of their own kindling, they are made to lie down in sorrow (Isa 50:11), and their laughter proves like the crackling of thorns under a pot, the comfort of which is soon gone, ere they can say, Alas! I am warm, Ecc 7:6. (2.) That there is no standing before the destruction that comes from the Almighty; for who knows the power of God's anger? When God will take sinners away, dead or alive, they cannot contest with him. The wicked are driven away in their wickedness. Now,
2. There are two things which the psalmist promises himself as the good effects of sinners' destruction: - (1.) That saints would be encouraged and comforted by it (Psa 58:10): The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. The pomp and power, the prosperity and success, of the wicked, are a discouragement to the righteous; they sadden their hearts, and weaken their hands, and are sometimes a strong temptation to them to question their foundations, Psa 73:2, Psa 73:13. But when they see the judgments of God hurrying them away, and just vengeance taken on them for all the mischief they have done to the people of God, they rejoice in the satisfaction thereby given to their doubts and the confirmation thereby given to their faith in the providence of God and his justice and righteousness in governing the world; they shall rejoice in the victory thus gained over that temptation by seeing their end, Psa 73:17. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; that is, there shall be abundance of bloodshed (Psa 68:23), and it shall be as great a refreshment to the saints to see God glorified in the ruin of sinners as it is to a weary traveller to have his feet washed. It shall likewise contribute to their sanctification; the sight of the vengeance shall make them tremble before God (Psa 119:120) and shall convince them of the evil of sin, and the obligations they lie under to that God who pleads their cause and will suffer no man to do them wrong and go unpunished for it. The joy of the saints in the destruction of the wicked is then a holy joy, and justifiable, when it helps to make them holy and to purify them from sin. (2.) That sinners would be convinced and converted by it, Psa 58:11. The vengeance God sometimes takes on the wicked in this world will bring men to say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Any man may draw this inference from such providences, and many a man shall, who before denied even these plain truths or doubted of them. Some shall have this confession extorted from them, others shall have their minds so changed that they shall willingly own it, and thank God who has given them to see it and see it with satisfaction, That God is, and, [1.] That he is the bountiful rewarder of his saints and servants: Verily (however it be, so it may be read) there is a fruit to the righteous; whatever damage he may run, and whatever hardship he may undergo for his religion, he shall not only be no loser by it, but an unspeakable gainer in the issue. Even in this world there is a reward for the righteous; they shall be recompensed in the earth. Those shall be taken notice of, honoured, and protected, that seemed slighted, despised, and abandoned. [2.] That he is the righteous governor of the world, and will surely reckon with the enemies of his kingdom: Verily, however it be, though wicked people prosper, and bid defiance to divine justice, yet it shall be made to appear, to their confusion, that the world is not governed by chance, but by a Being of infinite wisdom and justice; there is a God that judges in the earth, though he has prepared his throne in the heavens. He presides in all the affairs of the children of men, and directs and disposes them according to the counsel of his will, to his own glory; and he will punish the wicked, not only in the world to come, but in the earth, where they have laid up their treasure and promised themselves a happiness - in the earth, that the Lord may be known by the judgments which he executes, and that they may be taken as earnests of a judgment to come. He is a God (so we read it), not a weak man, not an angel, not a mere name, not (as the atheists suggest) a creature of men's fear and fancy, not a deified hero, not the sun and moon, as idolaters imagined, but a God, a self-existent perfect Being; he it is that judges the earth; his favour therefore let us seek, from whom every man's judgment proceeds, and to him let all judgment be referred.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,.... From…
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,.... From the description of the wicked, the psalmist passes to imprecations on his enemies; whom he represents as cruel and bloodthirsty, and as being stronger than he; and therefore he applies to God, who could, as he sometimes did, smite his enemies on the cheekbone, and break the teeth of the ungodly; which is done by taking the power and instruments of hurting from them: and it may be by "their teeth in their mouth" may be meant their malicious words, calumnies, and detractions; teeth being the instrument of speech; and by "breaking" them, preventing the mischief designed by them;
break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord: Saul was the old lion; his princes, nobles, and courtiers, the young ones; whose jaw teeth were as knives to devour David and his men, unless plucked out; or God in his providence should interpose, and hinder the performance of their mischievous and cruel designs; and who could easily destroy them by his blast, and by the breath of his nostrils, Job 4:9.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Their teeth - Their powerful instruments of doing mischief.
Their teeth - Their powerful instruments of doing mischief.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Verse 6. Break their teeth] He still compares Saul,…
Verse 6. Break their teeth] He still compares Saul, his captains, and his courtiers, to lions; and as a lion's power of doing mischief is greatly lessened if all his teeth be broken, so he prays that God may take away their power and means of pursuing their bloody purpose. But he may probably have the serpents in view, of which he speaks in the preceding verse; break their teeth-destroy the fangs of these serpents, in which their poison is contained. This will amount to the same meaning as above. Save me from the adders-the sly and poisonous slanderers: save me also from the lions-the tyrannical and blood-thirsty men.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Psa 58:6. Break their teeth, O God — Their…
Psa 58:6. Break their teeth, O God — Their power and instruments of doing mischief. “The mention of teeth here, with the relative their, most probably first refers to those of the adder or serpent, immediately foregoing, whose poison and noxious power are in their teeth; and the way to disarm serpents is to deprive them of their teeth. They who keep serpents tame usually do this by putting to them a piece of red cloth, in which they love to fix their teeth, and so draw them out. This mention of teeth fairly introduces that which follows concerning the lions, whose power of doing mischief with them is more violent; and so signifies the open and riotous offender; as the serpent’s teeth may imply the more secret and indiscernible wounds of the whisperer or backbiter: which yet are as dangerous and destructive as the former; by the smallest prick killing him on whom they fasten.” — Dodd.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth -…
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth - The word here rendered “break” means properly “to tear out.” The allusion is to his enemies, represented as wild beasts; and the prayer is, that God would deprive them of the means of doing harm - as wild animals are rendered harmless when their teeth are broken out.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord - The word used here means properly “biters” or “grinders:” Job 29:17; Pro 30:14; Joe 1:6. Compare the notes at Psa 3:7. The word rendered “young lions” here does not refer to mere whelps, but to full-grown though young lions in their vigor and strength, as contrasted with old lions, or those which are enfeebled by age. The meaning is, that his enemies were of the most fierce and violent kind.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv6–9He prays for their destruction, under the figure of…
He prays for their destruction, under the figure of ravenous beasts (Psa 3:7; Psa 7:2).
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv6–96. Break their teeth—The allusion is to the custom…
6. Break their teeth—The allusion is to the custom of extracting the poisonous fangs of the serpent in order to render it harmless and abate the malignity of its nature. This is still practised, though not in every case, according to the writers quoted by Hengstenberg, (Egypt and the Books of Moses.)
Great teeth of the young lions—The allusion changes from the fangs of serpents to the great teeth of lions, by which they tear their prey. The imagery is startling. “Young lions” (כפירים, kephereem) are those in full vigour of youth, and hence more active to destroy; distinguished from גור, (goor,) a sucking lion, Eze_19:2-3; and from לביא, (lahbee,) the great or stout lion, stronger but less active, Gen_49:9; Num_23:24; and from לישׁ, (layeesh,) an old lion enfeebled by age and perishing for lack of prey, Job_4:11; Isa_30:6. The sense of the apparently harsh language of this verse is, according to the known import of the metaphors, that as his enemies could not be diverted or appeased, God would disarm them,—break their power to envenom or destroy. See the allusions explained Job_29:17; Pro_30:14; Joe_1:6. It was not against them personally that the plea was entered, but against their power as officers of government and organized conspirators and persecutors.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv6–96. The figure of the serpent, typical of insidious…
6. The figure of the serpent, typical of insidious deadliness, is changed to that of the lion, typical of open ferocity.
Break … break out] Render them powerless for harm. Two strong words, properly used of breaking down and overthrowing walls. Cp. Psa_3:7; Job_4:10 : Pro_30:14.
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The LXX rendering of these verbs as perfects of certainty deserves consideration. It only requires a different vocalisation of the consonants, and gives an excellent sense: God shall surely break &c. The tenses in Psa_58:7-8 must then be rendered as futures: They shall melt away &c. Such an authoritative declaration of the punishment in store for the wicked seems more in keeping with the prophetic tone of the Psalm than the prayer for their destruction.
6–9. Since they are thus obstinately and incurably evil, nothing remains but that they should be deprived of their power to hurt or altogether destroyed.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv6, 7, 9(6) Break their teeth.—The change is abrupt from the…
(6) Break their teeth.—The change is abrupt from the image of obstinacy deaf to all charms, to that of violence that must be tamed by force.
Great teeth.—Literally, biters, grinders.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Vers. 6-9. passes into imprecation, with an "Elohim" emphatically…
Vers. 6-9. passes into imprecation, with an "Elohim" emphatically placed first" (Cheyne). Metaphors are accumulated. Menace follow menace. The wrath of God is first invoked upon the evil doers (vers. 6-8); then (ver. 9) coming judgment is announced.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Serpent charmers sometimes, when they have caught their snake, proceed to beat out the poison fangs with a stone or stick (Geike, "The Holy Land and the Bible," vol. 1, p. 245). The psalmist, in the first clause, seems to allude to this practice; in the second, he changes the metaphor, reverting to his favourite image of the young lion (kephir). Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. The "cheek teeth", (Joe_1:6) or principal fangs on either side, are intended.
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. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv6–9Ver. 6. Break their teeth, O God, in their…
Ver. 6. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. If they have no capacity for good, at least deprive them of their ability for evil. Treat them as the snake charmers do their serpents, extract their fangs, break their teeth. The Lord can do this, and he will. He will not suffer the malice of the wicked to triumph, he will deal them such a blow as shall disable them from mischief.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. As if one brute creature had not enough of evil in it to complete the emblem of ungodly nature, another specimen of ferae naturae is fetched in. For fierce cruelty the wicked are likened to young lions, monsters in the prime of their vigour, and the fury of their lustiness; and it is asked that their grinders may be smashed in, broken off, or dashed out, that the creatures may henceforth be harmless. One can well understand how the banished son of Jesse, while poisoned by the venomous slander of his foes, and worried by their cruel power, should appeal to heaven for a speedy and complete riddance from his enemies.
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Ver. 6. Break their teeth, destroy the fangs of these serpents, in which their poison is contained. This will amount to the same meaning as above. Save me from the adders, the sly and poisonous slanderers: save me also from the lions --the tyrannical and bloodthirsty men. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 6. Great teeth. mwetlm, according to Michaelis and Gesenius, are the eye teeth, which in lions are sharp and terrible. George Phillips, B.D., in "The Psalms in Hebrew: With a Commentary, "1846.
Ver. 6-9. David's enemies were strong and fierce as young lions: he therefore prayed that their teeth might be broken, even their strongest teeth, their grinders, with which they were ready to devour him; that so they might be disabled from doing mischief. They overwhelmed him like an inundation: but he desired it might prove a land flood, which is soon wasted. They were about to shoot at him: but he would have their bows, or their arrows, to be shivered to pieces, and become like straw, and do no execution, and he prayed that they might waste insensibly as the snail, which leaves its substance all along its track; and that they might come to nothing, like an abortion. He also predicted, that their prosperous rage (which resembled the crackling of thorns under a pot), would soon be extinct, and produce no effect; while the Lord in his wrath would hurry them into speedy destruction; as a furious whirlwind drives a living man down a precipice, or into a dreadful pit. Thomas Scott, 1747-1821.
None.
Psalms 58:7*
Ver. 6-9. See Psalms on "Ps 58:6" for further information.
Ver. 6-9. See Psalms on "Ps 58:6" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv6, 9General Information:
General Information:
The author lists things that he would like God to do to wicked people.
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Break their teeth ... break out the great teeth of the young lions
In both of these phrases, the wicked people are spoken of as if they were lions, and making them powerless to kill people is spoken of as breaking their teeth. AT: "Take away their power to kill. Make them powerless like young lions whose teeth have been broken and fallen out" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
Let them melt away as water that runs off
The wicked people are spoken of as if they were ice or water. No longer existing is spoken of as melting or draining away into the dry ground. AT: "Make them disappear like water that runs off" or "Make them vanish like ice that melts and drains into the ground" (See: Metaphor and Simile)
let them be as though they had no points
"let their arrows be as though they had no points"
Let them be like a snail that melts and passes away
No longer existing is spoken of as melting and disappearing. AT: "Let the wicked vanish like a snail that melts and no longer exists" (See: Simile)
snail
small animal that the Israelites considered unclean and that looks like it is melting as it moves by sliding over slime it has produced
like the untimely-born child of a woman that never sees the sunlight
Not existing is spoken of as being like a baby that is born dead. AT: "like a baby who is born too early too live and see the sunlight" or "like a baby that was born dead" (See: Simile)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 9 6. Break their teeth, O God! in their mouth…
6. Break their teeth, O God! in their mouth From this part of the psalm he assumes the language of imprecation, and solicits the vengeance of God, whose peculiar prerogative it is to repel oppression and vindicate injured innocence. It is necessary, however, that we attend to the manner in which this is done. He does not claim the judgment or patronage of God to his cause, until he had, in the first place, asserted his integrity, and stated his complaint against the malicious conduct of his enemies; for God can never be expected to undertake a cause which is unworthy of defense. In the verse before us, he prays that God would crush the wicked, and restrain the violence of their rage. By their teeth, he would intimate that they resembled wild beasts in their desire to rend and destroy the victims of their oppression; and this is brought out more clearly in the latter part of the verse, where he likens them to lions The comparison denotes the fury with which they were bent upon his destruction.
In the next verse, and in the several succeeding verses, he prosecutes the same purpose, employing a variety of apt similitudes. He prays that God would make them flow away like waters, that is, swiftly. The expression indicates the greatness of his faith. His enemies were before his eyes in all the array of their numbers and resources; he saw that their power was deeply rooted and firmly established; the whole nation was against him, and seemed to rise up before him like a hopeless and formidable barrier of rocky mountains. To pray that this solid and prodigious opposition should melt down and disappear, evidenced no small degree of courage, and the event could only appear credible to one who had learnt to exalt the power of God above all intervening obstacles. In the comparison which immediately follows, he prays that the attempts of his adversaries might be frustrated, the meaning of the words being, that their arrows might fall powerless, as if broken, when they bent their bow. Actuated as they were by implacable cruelty, he requests that God would confound their enterprises, and in this we are again called to admire his unshaken courage, which could contemplate the formidable preparations of his enemies as completely at the disposal of God, and their whole power as lying at his feet. Let his example in this particular point be considered. Let us not cease to pray, even after the arrows of our enemies have been fitted to the string, and destruction might seem inevitable.
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 On vv6, 7, 9 Take away all occasions and means whereby they hurt.
Take away all occasions and means whereby they hurt.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–9 Psa 58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their…
Psa 58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
Ver. 6. Break their teeth, O God] Disarm and disable them from doing me mischief. See Psa 3:7; Psa 10:13; Psa 57:4, to which last he seemeth here to refer.
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 On vv6–9 Their teeth; their power and instruments of doing mischief.…
Their teeth; their power and instruments of doing mischief. He mentions teeth, partly because the adder’s poison lies in its teeth; and partly to make way for the following metaphor.
The great teeth, called the grinders; which are more sharp and strong than the rest, and more used in breaking and tearing what they are about to eat.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v6 In these verses we have,
In these verses we have,
I. David's prayers against his enemies, and all the enemies of God's church and people; for it is as such that he looks upon them, so that he was actuated by a public spirit in praying against them, and not by any private revenge. 1. He prays that they might be disabled to do any further mischief (Psa 58:6): Break their teeth, O God! Not so much that they might not feed themselves as that they might not be able to make prey of others, Psa 3:7. He does not say, "Break their necks" (no; let them live to repent, slay them not, lest my people forget), but, "Break their teeth, for they are lions, they are young lions, that live by rapine." 2. That they might be disappointed in the plots they had already laid, and might not gain their point: "When he bends his bow, and takes aim to shoot his arrows at the upright in heart, let them be as cut in pieces, Psa 58:7. Let them fall at his feet, and never come near the mark." 3. That they and their interest might waste and come to nothing, that they might melt away as waters that run continually; that is, as the waters of a land-flood, which, though they seem formidable for a while, soon soak into the ground or return to their channels, or, in general, as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, but gradually dries away and disappears. Such shall the floods of ungodly men be, which sometimes make us afraid (Psa 18:4); so shall the proud waters be reduced, which threaten to go over our soul, Psa 124:4, Psa 124:5. Let us by faith then see what they shall be and then we shall not fear what they are. He prays (Psa 58:8) that they might melt as a snail, which wastes by its own motion, in every stretch it makes leaving some of its moisture behind, which, by degrees, must needs consume it, though it makes a path to shine after it. He that like a snail in her house is plenus sui - full of himself, that pleases himself and trusts to himself, does but consume himself, and will quickly bring himself to nothing. And he prays that they might be like the untimely birth of a woman, which dies as soon as it begins to live and never sees the sun. Job, in his passion, wished he himself had been such a one (Job 3:16), but he knew not what he said. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the church's enemies, as the prophet does (Hos 9:14, Give them, O Lord! what wilt thou give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts), which explains this prayer of the psalmist.
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II. His prediction of their ruin (Psa 58:9): "Before your pots can feel the heat of a fire of thorns made under them (which they will presently do, for it is a quick fire and violent while it lasts), so speedily, with such a hasty and violent flame, God shall hurry them away, as terribly and as irresistibly as with a whirlwind, as it were alive, as it were in fury."
1. The proverbial expressions are somewhat difficult, but the sense is plain, (1.) That the judgments of God often surprise wicked people in the midst of their jollity, and hurry them away of a sudden. When they are beginning to walk in the light of their own fire, and the sparks of their own kindling, they are made to lie down in sorrow (Isa 50:11), and their laughter proves like the crackling of thorns under a pot, the comfort of which is soon gone, ere they can say, Alas! I am warm, Ecc 7:6. (2.) That there is no standing before the destruction that comes from the Almighty; for who knows the power of God's anger? When God will take sinners away, dead or alive, they cannot contest with him. The wicked are driven away in their wickedness. Now,
2. There are two things which the psalmist promises himself as the good effects of sinners' destruction: - (1.) That saints would be encouraged and comforted by it (Psa 58:10): The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. The pomp and power, the prosperity and success, of the wicked, are a discouragement to the righteous; they sadden their hearts, and weaken their hands, and are sometimes a strong temptation to them to question their foundations, Psa 73:2, Psa 73:13. But when they see the judgments of God hurrying them away, and just vengeance taken on them for all the mischief they have done to the people of God, they rejoice in the satisfaction thereby given to their doubts and the confirmation thereby given to their faith in the providence of God and his justice and righteousness in governing the world; they shall rejoice in the victory thus gained over that temptation by seeing their end, Psa 73:17. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; that is, there shall be abundance of bloodshed (Psa 68:23), and it shall be as great a refreshment to the saints to see God glorified in the ruin of sinners as it is to a weary traveller to have his feet washed. It shall likewise contribute to their sanctification; the sight of the vengeance shall make them tremble before God (Psa 119:120) and shall convince them of the evil of sin, and the obligations they lie under to that God who pleads their cause and will suffer no man to do them wrong and go unpunished for it. The joy of the saints in the destruction of the wicked is then a holy joy, and justifiable, when it helps to make them holy and to purify them from sin. (2.) That sinners would be convinced and converted by it, Psa 58:11. The vengeance God sometimes takes on the wicked in this world will bring men to say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Any man may draw this inference from such providences, and many a man shall, who before denied even these plain truths or doubted of them. Some shall have this confession extorted from them, others shall have their minds so changed that they shall willingly own it, and thank God who has given them to see it and see it with satisfaction, That God is, and, [1.] That he is the bountiful rewarder of his saints and servants: Verily (however it be, so it may be read) there is a fruit to the righteous; whatever damage he may run, and whatever hardship he may undergo for his religion, he shall not only be no loser by it, but an unspeakable gainer in the issue. Even in this world there is a reward for the righteous; they shall be recompensed in the earth. Those shall be taken notice of, honoured, and protected, that seemed slighted, despised, and abandoned. [2.] That he is the righteous governor of the world, and will surely reckon with the enemies of his kingdom: Verily, however it be, though wicked people prosper, and bid defiance to divine justice, yet it shall be made to appear, to their confusion, that the world is not governed by chance, but by a Being of infinite wisdom and justice; there is a God that judges in the earth, though he has prepared his throne in the heavens. He presides in all the affairs of the children of men, and directs and disposes them according to the counsel of his will, to his own glory; and he will punish the wicked, not only in the world to come, but in the earth, where they have laid up their treasure and promised themselves a happiness - in the earth, that the Lord may be known by the judgments which he executes, and that they may be taken as earnests of a judgment to come. He is a God (so we read it), not a weak man, not an angel, not a mere name, not (as the atheists suggest) a creature of men's fear and fancy, not a deified hero, not the sun and moon, as idolaters imagined, but a God, a self-existent perfect Being; he it is that judges the earth; his favour therefore let us seek, from whom every man's judgment proceeds, and to him let all judgment be referred.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–9 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,.... From…
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,.... From the description of the wicked, the psalmist passes to imprecations on his enemies; whom he represents as cruel and bloodthirsty, and as being stronger than he; and therefore he applies to God, who could, as he sometimes did, smite his enemies on the cheekbone, and break the teeth of the ungodly; which is done by taking the power and instruments of hurting from them: and it may be by "their teeth in their mouth" may be meant their malicious words, calumnies, and detractions; teeth being the instrument of speech; and by "breaking" them, preventing the mischief designed by them;
break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord: Saul was the old lion; his princes, nobles, and courtiers, the young ones; whose jaw teeth were as knives to devour David and his men, unless plucked out; or God in his providence should interpose, and hinder the performance of their mischievous and cruel designs; and who could easily destroy them by his blast, and by the breath of his nostrils, Job 4:9.
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 On vv6–9 Their teeth - Their powerful instruments of doing mischief.
Their teeth - Their powerful instruments of doing mischief.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6–9 Verse 6. Break their teeth] He still compares Saul,…
Verse 6. Break their teeth] He still compares Saul, his captains, and his courtiers, to lions; and as a lion's power of doing mischief is greatly lessened if all his teeth be broken, so he prays that God may take away their power and means of pursuing their bloody purpose. But he may probably have the serpents in view, of which he speaks in the preceding verse; break their teeth-destroy the fangs of these serpents, in which their poison is contained. This will amount to the same meaning as above. Save me from the adders-the sly and poisonous slanderers: save me also from the lions-the tyrannical and blood-thirsty men.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6–9 Psa 58:6. Break their teeth, O God — Their…
Psa 58:6. Break their teeth, O God — Their power and instruments of doing mischief. “The mention of teeth here, with the relative their, most probably first refers to those of the adder or serpent, immediately foregoing, whose poison and noxious power are in their teeth; and the way to disarm serpents is to deprive them of their teeth. They who keep serpents tame usually do this by putting to them a piece of red cloth, in which they love to fix their teeth, and so draw them out. This mention of teeth fairly introduces that which follows concerning the lions, whose power of doing mischief with them is more violent; and so signifies the open and riotous offender; as the serpent’s teeth may imply the more secret and indiscernible wounds of the whisperer or backbiter: which yet are as dangerous and destructive as the former; by the smallest prick killing him on whom they fasten.” — Dodd.
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 On vv6–9 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth -…
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth - The word here rendered “break” means properly “to tear out.” The allusion is to his enemies, represented as wild beasts; and the prayer is, that God would deprive them of the means of doing harm - as wild animals are rendered harmless when their teeth are broken out.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord - The word used here means properly “biters” or “grinders:” Job 29:17; Pro 30:14; Joe 1:6. Compare the notes at Psa 3:7. The word rendered “young lions” here does not refer to mere whelps, but to full-grown though young lions in their vigor and strength, as contrasted with old lions, or those which are enfeebled by age. The meaning is, that his enemies were of the most fierce and violent kind.
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 On vv6–9 He prays for their destruction, under the figure of…
He prays for their destruction, under the figure of ravenous beasts (Psa 3:7; Psa 7:2).
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 On vv6–9 6. Break their teeth—The allusion is to the custom…
6. Break their teeth—The allusion is to the custom of extracting the poisonous fangs of the serpent in order to render it harmless and abate the malignity of its nature. This is still practised, though not in every case, according to the writers quoted by Hengstenberg, (Egypt and the Books of Moses.)
Great teeth of the young lions—The allusion changes from the fangs of serpents to the great teeth of lions, by which they tear their prey. The imagery is startling. “Young lions” (כפירים, kephereem) are those in full vigour of youth, and hence more active to destroy; distinguished from גור, (goor,) a sucking lion, Eze_19:2-3; and from לביא, (lahbee,) the great or stout lion, stronger but less active, Gen_49:9; Num_23:24; and from לישׁ, (layeesh,) an old lion enfeebled by age and perishing for lack of prey, Job_4:11; Isa_30:6. The sense of the apparently harsh language of this verse is, according to the known import of the metaphors, that as his enemies could not be diverted or appeased, God would disarm them,—break their power to envenom or destroy. See the allusions explained Job_29:17; Pro_30:14; Joe_1:6. It was not against them personally that the plea was entered, but against their power as officers of government and organized conspirators and persecutors.
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 On vv6–9 6. The figure of the serpent, typical of insidious…
6. The figure of the serpent, typical of insidious deadliness, is changed to that of the lion, typical of open ferocity.
Break … break out] Render them powerless for harm. Two strong words, properly used of breaking down and overthrowing walls. Cp. Psa_3:7; Job_4:10 : Pro_30:14.
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The LXX rendering of these verbs as perfects of certainty deserves consideration. It only requires a different vocalisation of the consonants, and gives an excellent sense: God shall surely break &c. The tenses in Psa_58:7-8 must then be rendered as futures: They shall melt away &c. Such an authoritative declaration of the punishment in store for the wicked seems more in keeping with the prophetic tone of the Psalm than the prayer for their destruction.
6–9. Since they are thus obstinately and incurably evil, nothing remains but that they should be deprived of their power to hurt or altogether destroyed.
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 On vv6, 7, 9 (6) Break their teeth.—The change is abrupt from the…
(6) Break their teeth.—The change is abrupt from the image of obstinacy deaf to all charms, to that of violence that must be tamed by force.
Great teeth.—Literally, biters, grinders.
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 On vv6–9 Vers. 6-9. passes into imprecation, with an "Elohim" emphatically…
Vers. 6-9. passes into imprecation, with an "Elohim" emphatically placed first" (Cheyne). Metaphors are accumulated. Menace follow menace. The wrath of God is first invoked upon the evil doers (vers. 6-8); then (ver. 9) coming judgment is announced.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Serpent charmers sometimes, when they have caught their snake, proceed to beat out the poison fangs with a stone or stick (Geike, "The Holy Land and the Bible," vol. 1, p. 245). The psalmist, in the first clause, seems to allude to this practice; in the second, he changes the metaphor, reverting to his favourite image of the young lion (kephir). Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. The "cheek teeth", (Joe_1:6) or principal fangs on either side, are intended.
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 On vv6–9 Ver. 6. Break their teeth, O God, in their…
Ver. 6. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. If they have no capacity for good, at least deprive them of their ability for evil. Treat them as the snake charmers do their serpents, extract their fangs, break their teeth. The Lord can do this, and he will. He will not suffer the malice of the wicked to triumph, he will deal them such a blow as shall disable them from mischief.
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. As if one brute creature had not enough of evil in it to complete the emblem of ungodly nature, another specimen of ferae naturae is fetched in. For fierce cruelty the wicked are likened to young lions, monsters in the prime of their vigour, and the fury of their lustiness; and it is asked that their grinders may be smashed in, broken off, or dashed out, that the creatures may henceforth be harmless. One can well understand how the banished son of Jesse, while poisoned by the venomous slander of his foes, and worried by their cruel power, should appeal to heaven for a speedy and complete riddance from his enemies.
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Ver. 6. Break their teeth, destroy the fangs of these serpents, in which their poison is contained. This will amount to the same meaning as above. Save me from the adders, the sly and poisonous slanderers: save me also from the lions --the tyrannical and bloodthirsty men. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 6. Great teeth. mwetlm, according to Michaelis and Gesenius, are the eye teeth, which in lions are sharp and terrible. George Phillips, B.D., in "The Psalms in Hebrew: With a Commentary, "1846.
Ver. 6-9. David's enemies were strong and fierce as young lions: he therefore prayed that their teeth might be broken, even their strongest teeth, their grinders, with which they were ready to devour him; that so they might be disabled from doing mischief. They overwhelmed him like an inundation: but he desired it might prove a land flood, which is soon wasted. They were about to shoot at him: but he would have their bows, or their arrows, to be shivered to pieces, and become like straw, and do no execution, and he prayed that they might waste insensibly as the snail, which leaves its substance all along its track; and that they might come to nothing, like an abortion. He also predicted, that their prosperous rage (which resembled the crackling of thorns under a pot), would soon be extinct, and produce no effect; while the Lord in his wrath would hurry them into speedy destruction; as a furious whirlwind drives a living man down a precipice, or into a dreadful pit. Thomas Scott, 1747-1821.
None.
Psalms 58:7*
Ver. 6-9. See Psalms on "Ps 58:6" for further information.
Ver. 6-9. See Psalms on "Ps 58:6" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9 General Information:
General Information:
The author lists things that he would like God to do to wicked people.
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Break their teeth ... break out the great teeth of the young lions
In both of these phrases, the wicked people are spoken of as if they were lions, and making them powerless to kill people is spoken of as breaking their teeth. AT: "Take away their power to kill. Make them powerless like young lions whose teeth have been broken and fallen out" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
Let them melt away as water that runs off
The wicked people are spoken of as if they were ice or water. No longer existing is spoken of as melting or draining away into the dry ground. AT: "Make them disappear like water that runs off" or "Make them vanish like ice that melts and drains into the ground" (See: Metaphor and Simile)
let them be as though they had no points
"let their arrows be as though they had no points"
Let them be like a snail that melts and passes away
No longer existing is spoken of as melting and disappearing. AT: "Let the wicked vanish like a snail that melts and no longer exists" (See: Simile)
snail
small animal that the Israelites considered unclean and that looks like it is melting as it moves by sliding over slime it has produced
like the untimely-born child of a woman that never sees the sunlight
Not existing is spoken of as being like a baby that is born dead. AT: "like a baby who is born too early too live and see the sunlight" or "like a baby that was born dead" (See: Simile)
translationWords
God
lions
Yahweh
bow and arrow
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 8, 9 58:6 The psalmist calls on God to break the…
58:6 The psalmist calls on God to break the destructive power of the wicked.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.