Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 58:6
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
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.
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their teeth; their power and instruments of doing mischief. He mentions teeth, partly because the adders 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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. He prays for theirdestruction, under the figure of ravenous beasts (Psa 3:7;Psa 7:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The verb is used much in the same way in Psa 58:7 as (e.g., Iliad, xiii. 577, ), which presents a similar onomatope. The form is, as in Job 7:5, = . The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare , Num 32:24, and = , Isa 18:2, Isa 18:7; , Chethb, Jer 30:16, and , Zec 14:10, more nearly resemble it. The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psa 64:4, transferred to the arrows (= , Psa 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i.e., as inoperative as if they had no heads or points ( as in Isa 26:18). In Psa 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory “let them become” is to be supplied. Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i.e., squashest with the foot ( , as in Psa 39:12, fut. Hiph. of = ), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.g., , , the words belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes ( after the form form
(Note: In the Phoenician, the Cyprian copper mine appears to have taken its name from , liquefactio (Levy, Phnizische Studien, iii. 7).)).
The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For (with Dag. dirimens for ) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, “the slimeworm”), from , to make wet, moist.
(Note: “God has created nothing without its use,” says the Talmud, B. Shabbath 77 b; “He has created the snail ( ) to heal bruises by laying it upon them:” cf. Genesis Rabba, ch. 51 init., where is explained by , , , , , limax. Abraham b. David of Fez, the contemporary of Saadia, has explained it in his Arabico-Hebrew Lexicon by , the slug. Nevertheless this is properly the name of the snail with a house ( ), Talmudic , and even at the present day in Syria and Palestine Arab. hlzun (which is pronounced halezon ); whereas , in conformity with the etymon and with the figure, is the naked snail or slug. The ancient versions perhaps failed to recognise this, because the slug is not very often to be seen in hot eastern countries; but in this signification can be looked upon as traditional. The rendering “a rain-brook or mountain-torrent (Arabic seil sabil ) which running runs away,” would, to say nothing more, give us, as Rosenmller has already observed, a figure that has been made use of already in Psa 58:8.)
In the second figure, the only sense in which belong together is “the untimely birth of a woman;” and rather than explain with the Talmud ( B. Med katan 6 b) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole,
(Note: The mole, which was thought to have no eyes, is actually called in post-biblical Hebrew , plur. (vid., Keelim xxi. 3).)
one would alter into . But this is not necessary, since the construct form is found also in other instances (Deu 21:11; 1Sa 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction. So here, where , according to Job 3:16; Ecc 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. 176, b). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psa 58:10, (plural in African, i.e., Punic, in Dioscorides atadi’n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like , the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking. The alternative – signifies sive, sive, whether the one or the other. is that which is living, fresh, viz., the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of (1Sa 2:15); , a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective = charron , of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition. The suffix of , however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i.e., of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, “To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones.” To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Prophetic Imprecations. | |
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD. 7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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 (v. 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, Ps. iii. 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, v. 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 (Ps. xviii. 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 (v. 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 iii. 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. ix. 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.
II. His prediction of their ruin (v. 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. l. 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, Eccl. vii. 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 (v. 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, Ps. lxxiii. 17. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; that is, there shall be abundance of bloodshed (Ps. lxviii. 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 (Ps. cxix. 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, v. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6. Break their teeth, O God! in their mouth (354) 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.
(354) “Break their teeth in their mouth” is most probably a continuation of the metaphorical illustration taken from serpents and adders immediately before, whose poison is contained in a bag at the bottom of one of their teeth, and who are disarmed by being deprived of this tooth which conveys the poison. This the charmer sometimes does after he has brought them out of their retreats by music. When the serpent makes its appearance, he seizes it by the throat, draws it forth, shows its poisoned fangs, and beats them out. To this beating out there seems to be here an allusion. “This mention of teeth,” says Hammond, “fairly introduces that which follows concerning the lion, whose doing mischief with that part is more violent and formidable, and so signifies the open, riotous invader, the violent and lawless person; as the serpent’s teeth, the more secret, indiscernible wounds of the whisperer or backbiter, which yet are as dangerous and destructive as the former, by the smallest puncture killing him on whom they fasten.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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” ( , kephereem) are those in full vigour of youth, and hence more active to destroy; distinguished from , ( goor,) a sucking lion, Eze 19:2-3; and from , ( lahbee,) the great or stout lion, stronger but less active, Gen 49:9; Num 23:24; and from , ( 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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David Calls On God To Deal With The Unrighteous As They Deserve ( Psa 58:6-9 ).
In five more vivid illustrations David calls on God to deal with the unrighteous, followed by a sixth by which he assures the unrighteous that all their plans will come to nothing. In the first three he calls for them to be rendered harmless; to have their teeth broken, to be caused to disappear like dangerous, life threatening, fast flowing water, and to be robbed of their means of hurting people. In the next three he calls for them to have the life span of a snail, or the lifelessness of a still born child, and then assures them that they will lose their means of hurting people, because God will sweep them away. Note that along with the illustration about the snake there are seven illustrations in all, an indication of divine completeness.
Psa 58:6
‘Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O YHWH.’
As well as being like snakes, his adversaries are like lions on the hunt. The breaking of the teeth was an ancient way of rendering a fierce animal harmless. So David calls on God to ‘break the teeth’ of those who are arrayed against him, in other words to render them comparatively harmless. He describes them as young lions with large teeth. We have already seen his descriptions of his enemies as ‘lions’ (Psa 35:17; Psa 22:13; Psa 22:21; Psa 57:4). And he wants them neutralised.
Psa 58:7
‘Let them melt away as water which runs apace,
When he aims his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.’
His next illustration is of flood waters which suddenly arise, flow swiftly along the bed of the wadi sweeping all before it, and then as quickly disappear, leaving once more a dry river bed. Their life-threatening violence is replaced by calm. He calls on God to ensure this end for the unrighteous, no doubt with his own assailants in mind.
His third illustration is of an archer whose arrows have their points removed. When he lets loose his arrows, may they be rendered useless. In the same way, he prays, when unrighteous let loose their arrows, but let them be rendered harmless.
Psa 58:8
‘ Let them be as a snail which melts and passes away,
Like the untimely birth of a woman, which has not seen the sun.’
His illustrations now change from asking for the unrighteous to be rendered harmless, to praying for their untimely end. His next illustration is that of a snail which is short-lived, and melts and passes away. The snail clings to the rock, but the burning heat of the son causes it to shrivel and melt so that all that is left is the empty shell clinging to the rock. This can especially be seen if salt is put on it, a device possibly practised by the ancients. It may also have in mind the trail of slime that it leaves behind as it moves. He prays that the unrighteous, who are equally disgusting, might be equally short-lived.
His next illustration is that of the stillborn child which never lives to see the sun. In the same way he prays for a swift end for the unrighteous.
Psa 58:9
‘Before your pots can feel the thorns,
He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.’
He closes his list of illustrations by referring to habit of the traveller to gather desert scrub in order to light his fire by which to heat his cooking pot. Having made a fire with some of it, and having piled up beside the fire a heap from which he can feed the flames, he sits there contentedly anticipating the heating up of his prey. But suddenly a desert storm arises, and a whirlwind sweeps away both the burning scrub beneath his pot, and the green scrub which is his reserve. To his chagrin he no longer has any means of heating his pot and burning his victim.
In the same way the unrighteous, who have claimed their prey and are eagerly preparing to devour them, will suddenly discover that all their hopes are dashed by a storm from YHWH which sweeps away their means of doing harm.
The word for ‘burning’ is a word regularly used of the burning of God’s anger, often being translated as ‘fierce’. But in Jer 25:38 the lion is driven out of his covert by burning instigated by oppressors. It thus illustrates the unrighteous ‘burning’ their prey, and the rendering of them as unable to do so any more.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 58:6. Break their teeth, O God The mention of teeth in this first place with the relative their, most probably refers to the adder’s or serpent’s immediately foregoing, whose poison and noxious power is 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. Breaking them is equivalent to drawing 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 back-biter; which yet are as dangerous and destructive as the former, by the smallest puncture killing him on whom they fasten.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
This appeal to God comes in very suitably after what was before observed. If we accept the expressions as prayers for grace, or the destruction of the irrecoverable foes of Christ, they are very strong and direct. Jesus on the cross graciously prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies. The heart must be broken for sin, before that it can be brought to be in love with Jesus.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 58:6-9
6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
7Let them flow away like water that runs off;
When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.
8Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along,
Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.
9Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns
He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
Psa 58:6-9 This strophe is a prayer for God’s (both Elohim and YHWH used, see Special Topic: Names for Deity) judgment on these judges in graphic, descriptive phrases.
1. shatter their teeth BDB 248, KB 256, Qal imperative (teeth and fangs; parallel in Joe 1:6)
2. break out lit. tear out) the fangs (BDB 1069) of the young lions BDB 683, KB 736, Qal imperative (#1 and #2 are parallel; may judgment occur for the very place where they sin [i.e., in their words/verdicts])
3. let them flow away like runoff water BDB 549, KB 541, Niphal imperfect used in a jussive sense
4. let their arrows be ineffective (Hebrew idiom uncertain, but seems to refer to their unjust verdicts and accusations)
5. let them be like a snail (BDB 117, only here in the OT) which melts away (BDB 588, this form found only here in the OT, dissolve is BDB 587) as it goes along BDB 229, KB 246, Qal imperfect; the assumed to be verb is used in a jussive sense
6. let them be like the miscarriages of a woman who never sees the sun BDB 302, KB 301, Qal perfect (though not imperfect the immediate concept demands it is used in a jussive sense)
The problem in understanding exactly what is being said in Psa 58:8 is that the parallelism between snail and a miscarriage is faulty, but how is uncertain. The term in the second line is far more certain than snail and melt away. The NIDOTTE, vol. 4, p. 30, suggests snail be understood as a miscarriage.
7. this is a difficult verse in Hebrew (AB does not even attempt to translate it). There have been several suggestions. The basic point is that the needed heat for the cooking pot is blown away before it can heat the food (i.e., even fast-starting kindling).
Just like the previous lines of poetry, these imperfects seem to be used in a jussive sense to connect to the prayer request imperatives of Psa 58:6.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 58:6-9
Psa 58:6-9
THE TYRANTS PRAYED AGAINST
“Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
Let them melt away as water that runneth apace:
When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off
Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away
Like the untimely birth of a woman that hath not seen the sun.
Before your pots can feel the thorns,
He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.”
This prayer against the hardened and unrepentant wicked men of this passage reveals a seven-fold curse upon them.
1. Break their teeth (Psa 58:6).
2. Break out (pull) the teeth of lions (Psa 58:6).
3. Let them melt away as water that runs off (Psa 58:7).
4. His arrows … let them be cut off (Psa 58:7).
5. Let them be as a snail that melteth (Psa 58:8).
6. Let them be like an aborted fetus (Psa 58:8)
7. Let their `pot’ be carried away by a tornado (Psa 58:9).
We have paraphrased these, but we have retained the meaning. These are some of the boldest and most dramatic statements in the Bible; and they adequately describe the judgment that God will at last execute upon the incorrigibly wicked.
Some have thought the reference to a snail’s melting away was due to an ancient mistaken opinion that the snail’s slimy trail destroyed him; but we think this might be a reference to the fact that ordinary salt sprinkled upon a snail literally dissolves him; and it is foolish to believe that the ancients did not know this or to think that the psalmist might not here have referred to it.
The metaphor of the “pot” in Psa 58:9 is difficult, due to the various translations proposed. “The `pot’ here is the means by which the enemies of the psalmist mature their plans; but Yahweh sweeps it all away with a tempest. As we might say, “They cooked up all kinds of schemes which God frustrated.”
Rawlinson wrote, “The general meanings seems to be that before the wicked judges can mature their plans the wrath of God will come upon them like a tempest and sweep both them and the product of their villainy away.
The other judgmental curses here seem to us as rather obvious. Every one of these metaphors means exactly the same thing. “All wicked men shall become the objects of God’s righteous judgment upon them.”
E.M Zerr:
Psa 58:6. All of the expressions in this verse are used figuratively. The desire of David was that God would deal roughly with his adversaries.
Psa 58:7. Continually has no word in the original and is really against the thought of the writer. The idea is of something that makes a show of activity for a while, then ceases. A stream that runs continually does not vanish and hence would not compare with the fate that David wished for these wicked enemies. He and his refer to God and them refers to the enemies. David prayed that God would destroy them as with arrows.
Psa 58:8. All of these verses express the attitude of David toward his enemies. He is signifying his feelings by a number of comparisons. Strong defines the original for melteth by, “disappearance.” The appearance of a snail is trivial and short-lived. Untimely birth refers to the case where the prematurity of the child caused its death so that it could never see the light of day.
Psa 58:9. The speed with which the wrath of God was to work against the wicked foes is the thought in this verse. Thorns refers to the fuel used to build a fire under the vessel. The foes were to feel the wrath of God in less time than it takes for the pots to feel the heat. The foes will be taken away both living (taken alive) by the whirlwind of God’s wrath.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Break their: Psa 3:7, Psa 10:15, Job 4:10, Job 4:11, Job 29:17, Eze 30:21-26
young: Psa 17:12, Psa 91:13, Num 23:24, Isa 31:4, Hos 5:14, Mic 5:8
Reciprocal: Job 41:14 – his teeth Psa 7:9 – Oh Psa 57:4 – among Pro 30:14 – whose Jer 51:38 – roar Lam 3:16 – broken Eze 19:2 – young lions Zec 9:7 – I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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 serpents 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
58:6 Break their {e} teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
(e) Take away all opportunity and means by which they hurt.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The punishment of crooked judges 58:6-9
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
David called on God to deal with these unjust men. Breaking the teeth symbolizes painfully removing their ability to devour the people they oppressed. David viewed them as lions and serpents whose teeth and fangs needed crushing. He also asked God to remove them like water rushing away. He requested that their words would lack the ability to penetrate. He wanted them to melt away as snails do in the heat. He wished they would die without any further influence, as a child who dies in its mother’s womb.