Psalms 58:1-2

Psalm 58 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David.

58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? ⁴ 

Do you judge people ⁵  fairly?

58:2 No! ⁶  You plan how to do what is unjust; ⁷ 

you deal out violence in the earth. ⁸ 

Psalms 82:5-7

82:5 They ⁹  neither know nor understand.

They stumble ¹⁰  around in the dark,

while all the foundations of the earth crumble. ¹¹ 

82:6 I thought, ¹²  ‘You are gods;

all of you are sons of the Most High.’ ¹³ 

82:7 Yet you will die like mortals; ¹⁴ 

you will fall like all the other rulers.” ¹⁵ 

Psalms 94:20-21

94:20 Cruel rulers ¹⁶  are not your allies,

those who make oppressive laws. ¹⁷ 

94:21 They conspire against ¹⁸  the blameless, ¹⁹ 

and condemn to death the innocent. ²⁰ 

Ecclesiastes 5:8

Government Corruption

5:8 If you see the extortion ²¹  of the poor,

or the perversion ²²  of justice and fairness in the government, ²³ 

do not be astonished by the matter.

For the high official is watched by a higher official, ²⁴ 

and there are higher ones over them! ²⁵ 

Amos 4:7

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ²⁶ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ²⁷  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

[58:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.

[58:1]  ² tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.

[58:1]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[58:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (’elem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (’elim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (’elim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ’ayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.

[58:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)

[58:2]  ⁶ tn The particle אַף (’af, “no”) is used here as a strong adversative emphasizing the following statement, which contrasts reality with the rulers’ claim alluded to in the rhetorical questions (see Ps 44:9).

[58:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the heart unjust deeds you do.” The phrase “in the heart” (i.e., “mind”) seems to refer to their plans and motives. The Hebrew noun עַוְלָה (’avlah, “injustice”) is collocated with פָּעַל (pa’al, “do”) here and in Job 36:23 and Ps 119:3. Some emend the plural form עוֹלֹת (’olot, “unjust deeds”; see Ps 64:6) to the singular עָוֶל (’avel, “injustice”; see Job 34:32), taking the final tav (ת) as dittographic (note that the following verbal form begins with tav). Some then understand עָוֶל (’avel, “injustice”) as a genitive modifying “heart” and translate, “with a heart of injustice you act.”

[58:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the earth the violence of your hands you weigh out.” The imagery is from the economic realm. The addressees measure out violence, rather than justice, and distribute it like a commodity. This may be ironic, since justice was sometimes viewed as a measuring scale (see Job 31:6).

[82:5]  ⁹ sn Having addressed the defendants, God now speaks to those who are observing the trial, referring to the gods in the third person.

[82:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “walk.” The Hitpael stem indicates iterative action, picturing these ignorant “judges” as stumbling around in the darkness.

[82:5]  ¹¹ sn These gods, though responsible for justice, neglect their duty. Their self-imposed ignorance (which the psalmist compares to stumbling around in the dark) results in widespread injustice, which threatens the social order of the world (the meaning of the phrase all the foundations of the earth crumble).

[82:6]  ¹² tn Heb “said.”

[82:6]  ¹³ sn Normally in the OT the title Most High belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El (see v. 1, as well as Isa 14:13).

[82:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “men.” The point in the context is mortality, however, not maleness.

[82:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like one of the rulers.” The comparison does not necessarily imply that they are not rulers. The expression “like one of” can sometimes mean “as one of” (Gen 49:16; Obad 11) or “as any other of” (Judg 16:7, 11).

[94:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.

[94:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.

[94:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “attack.”

[94:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”

[94:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”

[5:8]  ²¹ tn Alternately, “oppression.” The term עֹשֶׁק (’osheq) has a basic two-fold range of meaning: (1) “oppression; brutality” (e.g., Isa 54:14); and (2) “extortion” (e.g., Ps 62:11); see HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק; BDB 799 s.v. עֹשֶׁק. The LXX understands the term as “oppression,” as the translation συκοφαντίαν (sukofantian, “oppression”) indicates. Likewise, HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 1 classifies this usage as “oppression” against the poor. However, the context of 5:8-9 [7-8 HT] focuses on corrupt government officials robbing people of the fruit of their labor through extortion and the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ²² tn Heb “robbery.” The noun גֵזֶל (gezel, “robbery”) refers to the wrestling away of righteousness or the perversion of justice (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The related forms of the root גזל mean “to rob; to loot” (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The term “robbery” is used as a figure for the perversion of justice (hypocatastasis): just as a thief robs his victims through physical violence, so corrupt government officials “rob” the poor through the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ²³ tn Heb “in the province.”

[5:8]  ²⁴ tn The word “official” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:8]  ²⁵ sn And there are higher ones over them! This may describe a corrupt system of government in which each level of hierarchy exploits its subordinates, all the way down to the peasants: “Set in authority over the people is an official who enriches himself at their expense; he is watched by a more authoritative governor who also has his share of the spoils; and above them are other officers of the State who likewise have to be satisfied”; see A. Cohen, The Five Megilloth (SoBB), 141.

[4:7]  ²⁶ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.