So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
- BSB Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
- NKJV So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”
- NASB And people will say, “There certainly is a reward for the righteous; There certainly is a God who judges on the earth!”
- NLT Then at last everyone will say, “There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The psalm closes confessing that there truly is reward for the righteous and a God who judges the earth. It is the settled conclusion that God's justice is real.
Overview
After confronting injustice, the psalm ends with renewed confidence that God does reward righteousness and does judge the world. This answers the wicked's earlier scoffing and assures the faithful that moral order is not an illusion. The promise finds its surest ground in Christ, through whom God will judge the earth in righteousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Isa 3:10Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
- Ps 67:4O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
- Ps 64:9And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
- Ps 33:18Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
- Mal 2:17Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
- Mal 3:14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
- Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- Rom 6:21–22What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
- Ps 98:9Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
- Ps 73:13–15Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
- 2 Pet 3:4–10And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
- Ps 92:15To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
- Ps 94:2Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
- Ps 96:13Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
- Ps 18:20The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
- Ps 9:8And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
- Ps 9:16The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 58:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.