LHC Midday Word: PSALM Fifty Eight

For the director of music.

To the tune of ‘Do Not Destroy’.

Of David. A miktam.

Do you rulers indeed speak justly?

Do you judge people with equity?

No, in your heart you devise injustice,

and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

Even from birth the wicked go astray;

from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

Their venom is like the venom of a snake,

like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

that will not heed the tune of the charmer,

however skilful the enchanter may be.

Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;

Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!

Let them vanish like water that flows away;

when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,

like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns –

whether they be green or dry –

the wicked will be swept away.

The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,

when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Then people will say,

‘Surely the righteous still are rewarded;

surely there is a God who judges the earth.’.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

Psalm 58 : “tune” (v.5)

This Psalm is quite atypical of David, as there is in it, almost throughout, great harshness. We know how restrained he was towards Saul, despite the way he hounded him. But nastiness can easily rub off on us, so that we sadly react in similar vein.

The Psalm’s title is “to the tune of ‘Do Not Destroy’” - which clashes with the angriness of his prayer, part being “their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra … that will not heed the tune of the charmer” (vv.4-5).

Are your spirit and prayers ignoring God’s enchanting love tune? Time to switch to another tune? Don’t ‘play it again, Sam’!

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READING

Psalm Fifty Eight

Read by David Suchet