No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
- KJV Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
- NKJV No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
- NASB No, in heart you practice injustice; On earth you clear a way for the violence of your hands.
- NLT No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land.
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
David exposes corrupt judges who, far from doing justice, deliberately plan wrongdoing and dispense violence. It matters because injustice often hides behind a mask of authority.
Overview
In a psalm against unjust rulers, David pierces the pretense of those entrusted with judgment. Their hearts, not just their hands, devise injustice, weighing out violence as though it were a measured commodity. Scripture insists that God sees the inner intent behind outward acts, and that human authority is accountable to the righteous Judge who ultimately set all wrongs right at the cross and will do so at the last day.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 10:1Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,
- Ps 94:20Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?
- Eccl 3:16Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.
- Ezek 22:27Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
- Mic 3:1–3Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?
- Mal 3:15So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”
- Ps 21:11Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.
- Jer 22:16–17He took up the cause of the poor and needy, and so it went well with him. Is this not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD.
- John 11:47–53Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
- Isa 59:4–6No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
- Isa 26:7The path of the righteous is level; You clear a straight path for the upright.
- Ezek 22:12In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
- Mic 3:9–12Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 58:2 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.