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 

Exodus 23:6-7

23:6 “You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits. 23:7 Keep your distance ⁹  from a false charge ¹⁰  – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, ¹¹  for I will not justify the wicked. ¹² 

Leviticus 19:15

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 “‘You ¹³  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ¹⁴  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ¹⁵  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ¹⁶ 

Micah 3:1-3

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ¹⁷  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹⁸  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ¹⁹ 

3:2 yet you ²⁰  hate what is good, ²¹ 

and love what is evil. ²² 

You flay my people’s skin ²³ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ²⁴ 

3:3 You ²⁵  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ²⁶  –

like meat in a kettle.

Micah 3:9-12

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family ²⁷  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ²⁸  of Israel!

You ²⁹  hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

3:10 You ³⁰  build Zion through bloody crimes, ³¹ 

Jerusalem ³²  through unjust violence.

3:11 Her ³³  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ³⁴ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ³⁵  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ³⁶ 

Disaster will not overtake ³⁷  us!”

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ³⁸  Zion will be plowed up like ³⁹  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ⁴⁰  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴¹ 

[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).

[23:7]  ⁹ tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”

[23:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a false matter,” this expression in this context would have to be a case in law that was false or that could only be won by falsehood.

[23:7]  ¹¹ tn The two clauses probably should be related: the getting involved in the false charge could lead to the death of an innocent person (so, e.g., Naboth in 1 Kgs 21:10-13).

[23:7]  ¹² sn God will not declare right the one who is in the wrong. Society should also be consistent, but it cannot see the intents and motives, as God can.

[19:15]  ¹³ tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.

[19:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”

[19:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”

[19:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”

[3:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ²¹ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ²² tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ²³ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ²⁶ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

[3:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “who.”

[3:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10]  ³² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ³³ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ³⁷ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[3:12]  ³⁸ tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12]  ³⁹ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”