Psalm 58

Psalms · Chapter 58

Psalms 58:8

1Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.3The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;5Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.7Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.8As 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.9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
8As 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.Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away, Like the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
likeכְּמ֣וֹke-MOH3644G
like

כְּמוֹ (ke.mo) adv 1) like, as, the like of which conj 2) when, according as, as it were

a snailשַׁ֭בְּלוּלSHE-be-lulH7642
snail

שַׁבְּלוּל (shav.lul) snail

[which] melting awayתֶּ֣מֶסTE-mesH8557
melting

תֶּ֫מֶס (te.mes) dissolving, melting, melting (away)

it goesיַהֲלֹ֑ךְya-ha-LOKHH1980L
to go: went

הָלַךְ (ha.lakh) : went/go[away] 1) to go, walk, come 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to go, walk, come, depart, proceed, move, go away 1a2) to die, live, manner of life (fig.) 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to walk 1b2) to walk (fig.) 1c) (Hithpael) 1c1) to traverse 1c2) to walk about 1d) (Niphal) to lead, bring, lead away, carry, cause to walk

a miscarriage ofנֵ֥פֶלNE-felH5309
miscarriage

נֵ֫פֶל (ne.phel) untimely birth, abortion, miscarriage

a womanאֵ֝֗שֶׁת'E-shetH0802G
woman

אִשָּׁה (ish.shah) : woman 1) woman, wife, female 1a) woman (opposite of man) 1b) wife (woman married to a man) 1c) female (of animals) 1d) each, every (pronoun)

of [which] notבַּל־bal-H1077
not

בַּל (bal) not, hardly, else

they have seenחָ֥זוּCHA-zuH2372
to see

חֲזָה (cha.zah) 1) to see, behold 1a)(P'al) 1a1) to see 1a2) to see, behold, witness 1a3) to behold (in a dream or vision) 1a4) customary, seemly (passive)

[the] sunשָֽׁמֶשׁ׃SHA-meshH8121
to minister

שְׁמַשׁ (she.mash) (Pael) to minister, serve Aramaic of she.mesh (שֶׁ֫מֶשׁ "sun" H8121)

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.