The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 57
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 58 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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For the end. Destroy not: by David, for a memorial.
Εἰς τὸ τέλος, μὴ διαφθείρῃς, τῷ Δαυὶδ εἰς στηλογραφίαν.
If ye do indeed speak righteousness, Then do ye judge rightly, ye sons of men.
Εἰ ἀληθῶς ἄρα δικαιοσύνην λαλεῖτε, εὐθεῖα κρίνετε οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
The words which we have sung must be rather hearkened to by us, than proclaimed. For to all men as it were in an assemblage of mankind, the Truth cries, "If truly indeed justice ye speak, judge right things, you sons of men". For to what unjust man is it not an easy thing to speak justice? Or what man if questioned…
For ye work iniquities in your hearts in the earth: Your hands plot unrighteousness.
Καὶ γὰρ ἐν καρδίᾳ ἀνομίας ἐργάζεσθε ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀδικίαν αἱ χεῖρες ὑμῶν συμπλέκουσιν.
But now ye do what? Why these things to you do I speak? "Because in heart iniquities ye work on earth". Iniquities perchance in heart alone? Hear what followeth: both their heart hands do follow, and their heart hands do serve, the thing is thought of, and it is done; or else it is not done, not because we would not,…
Sinners have gone astray from the womb: They go astray from the belly: they speak lies.
Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μήτρας, ἐπλανήθησαν ἀπὸ γαστρὸς, ἐλάλησαν ψευδῆ.
"Alienated are sinners from the womb, they have gone astray from the belly, they have spoken false things". And when iniquity they speak, false things they speak; because deceitful is iniquity: and when justice they speak, false things they speak; because one thing with mouth they profess, another thing in heart they…
Their venom is like that of a serpent; As that of a deaf asp, and that stops her ears;
Θυμὸς αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως, ὡσεὶ ἀσπίδος κωφῆς, καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα αὐτῆς,
"Indignation to them after the similitude of a serpent". A great thing you are to hear. "Indignation to them after the similitude of a serpent." As if we had said, What is that which you have said? There follows, "As if of a deaf asp." Whence deaf? "And closing its ears." Therefore deaf, because it closes its ears.…
Which will not hear the voice of charmers, Nor heed the charm prepared skillfully by the wise.
ἥτις οὐκ εἰσακούσεται φωνὴν ἐπᾳδόντων, φαρμάκου τε φαρμακευομένου παρὰ σοφοῦ.
God has crushed their teeth in their mouth: God has broken the cheek teeth of the lions.
Ὁ Θεὸς συνέτριψε τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν, τὰς μύλας τῶν λεόντων συνέθλασεν ὁ Κύριος.
"God hath broken utterly the teeth of them in their own mouth". Of whom? Of them to whom indignation is as the similitude of a serpent, and of an asp closing up its ears, so that it heareth not the voice of men charming, and of medicine medicated by the wise man. The Lord hath done to them what? "Hath broken utterly…
They shall utterly pass away like water running through: He shall bend his bow till they shall fail.
Ἐξουδενωθήσονται ὡς ὕδωρ διαπορευόμενον, ἐντενεῖ τὸ τόξον αὐτοῦ ἕως οὗ ἀσθενήσουσιν.
"They shall be despised like water running down". Be not terrified, brethren, by certain streams, which are called torrents: with winter waters they are filled up; do not fear: after a little it passeth by, that water runneth down; for a time it roareth, soon it will subside: they cannot hold long. Many heresies now…
They shall be destroyed as melted wax: The fire has fallen and they have not seen the sun.
Ὡσεὶ κηρὸς ὁ τακεῖς ἀνταναιρεθήσονται, ἔπεσε πῦρ, καὶ οὐκ εἶδον τὸν ἥλιον.
"Like wax melted they shall be taken away". For thou wast about to say, all men are not so made weak, like myself, in order that they may believe: many men do persevere in their evil, and in their malice. And of the same fear thou nothing: "Like wax melted they shall be taken away." Against thee they shall not stand,…
Before your thorns feel the white thorn, He shall swallow you up as living, as in his wrath.
Πρὸ τοῦ συνιέναι τὰς ἀκάνθας ὑμῶν τὴν ῥάμνον, ὡσεὶ ζῶντας ὡσεὶ ἐν ὀργῇ καταπίεται ὑμᾶς.
"Before that the bramble brings forth your thorns: as though living, as though in anger, it shall drink them up". What is the bramble? Of prickly plants it is a kind, upon which there are said to be certain of the closest thorns. At first it is a herb; and while it is a herb, soft and fair it is: but thereon there are…
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance of the ungodly: He shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
Εὐφρανθήσεται δίκαιος, ὅταν ἴδῃ ἐκδίκησιν ἀσεβῶν, τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ νίψεται ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ.
"And a man shall say, If therefore there is fruit to a just man". Behold, before that there cometh that which is promised, before that there is given life everlasting, before that ungodly men are cast forth into fire everlasting, here in this life there is fruit to the just man. What fruit? "In hope rejoicing, in…
And a man shall say, Verily then there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judges them in the earth.
Καὶ ἐρεῖ ἄνθρωπος, εἰ ἄρα ἐστὶ καρπὸς τῷ δικαίῳ, ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ Θεὸς κρίνων αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ γῇ.
Every note is a real passage, quoted word for word from a published English translation, with its source. Nothing here is summarised or written by us. Some verses have many notes and some have none, because the Fathers wrote more on some passages than others.
All of these translations are in the public domain. The passages were matched to their verses by the Historical Christian Commentaries project, which also hosts the full texts we link to. The Fathers are a treasury of the Church's mind, and they are best read alongside the life of the Church: if a passage raises a question, bring it to your priest.