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英文原文
It is the probable conjecture of some (Amyraldus particularly) that before Saul began to persecute David by force of arms, and raised the militia to seize him, he formed a process against him by course of law, upon which he was condemned unheard, and attainted as a traitor, by the great council, or supreme court of judicature, and then proclaimed "qui caput gerit lupinum—an outlawed wolf," whom any man might kill and no man might protect. The elders, in order to curry favour with Saul, having passed this bill of attainder, it is supposed that David penned this psalm on the occasion. I. He describes their sin, and aggravates that, Ps 58:1-5. II. He imprecates and foretels their ruin, and the judgments which the righteous God would bring upon them for their injustice (Ps 58:6-9) which would redound, 1. To the comfort of the saints, Ps 58:10. 2. To the glory of God, Ps 58:11. Sin appears here both exceedingly sinful and exceedingly dangerous, and God a just avenger of wrong, with which we should be affected in singing this psalm.
1-5
A Reproof to Wicked Judges
對惡人審判官的責備
交與伶長，調用休止，大衛的金詩。
¹ 世人啊，你們果真講論公義嗎？你們果真按正直審判嗎？
² 不然，你們是心中圖謀不義；你們在地上（或譯：在國中）稱出強暴的手。
³ 惡人一出母胎就與神疏遠；一離母腹便走錯路，說謊話。
⁴ 他們的毒氣好像蛇的毒氣；他們好像塞耳的聾虺，
⁵ 不聽行法術的聲音，無論用甚麼巧妙的法術，都不肯聽。
我們有理由相信，本篇詩篇是指掃羅及其爪牙對大衛的惡意，因為它與前一篇和後一篇的標題相同（調用休止、大衛的金詩），而前後兩篇從標題看來顯然都是因著那次逼迫而寫的——在那次逼迫中神保守了大衛（休止——不要毀壞）；因此那時他所寫的詩篇對他格外寶貴，乃是金詩——大衛的珠寶，正如哈蒙德博士所譯。
在這些經文中，大衛不是以君王的身分（因他那時還沒有登基），而是以先知的身分，奉神的名審問並定罪他的審判官，其所有的權柄與公義，遠超過他們在追討他時所表現的。他指控他們兩件事：
一、他們治權的敗壞。他們是一個議會，一個審判官的法庭，或許是一個邦國的議會或代表大會，人本可指望從他們那裡得到公正的對待，因為他們是精通律法的人，自幼研習那些典章與律例，而那些律例極其公義，甚至他國的律法無法與之相比。誰會想到這樣的一個議會竟能被賄賂和收買呢？然而看來確是如此，因為基士的兒子能為他們行的，耶西的兒子卻不能，撒上22:7。他有葡萄園、田地和官職可以賞賜他們，因此為了討他喜悅，他們甚麼事都肯做，無論是對是錯。在所羅門對這世界及其弊病所作的一切憂鬱觀察之中，最叫他憤慨的，莫過於看見在審判之處竟有奸惡，傳3:16。掃羅的時代也是如此。1. 審判官不肯行公義，不肯保護或為受屈的無辜者伸冤（詩58:1）：你們果真講論公義，按正直審判嗎？不；你們離此甚遠；你們自己的良心不能不告訴你們，你們並沒有盡長官所受託的職責——你們理當「作惡的人的恐懼，行善的人的稱讚」。這就是你們所自稱要施行的公義嗎？這就是一個誠實人與一件正直的案子可以從你們那裡得到的庇護和看待嗎？你們當記得自己是世人；是必死的人，在神面前與你們所踐踏的最卑微的人站在同一水準上，自己也要受審判、被究問。你們既是世人，我們就可以向你們自己上訴，也向那寫在每人心中的自然律上訴：你們果真講論公義嗎？難道你們的第二念不能糾正你們已行的嗎？請注意，我們若常以這嚴肅的問題反省自己所說的話——我們果真講論公義嗎？——就能收回我們失言所說的，並不再繼續下去，這對我們是好的。2. 他們行了許多不義；他們利用自己的權力來支持傷害與欺壓（詩58:2）：你們心中圖謀不義（人一生所有的惡行都是在心中釀成的）。這話暗示他們行事極有詭計與籌謀，不是出於偶然，而是經過預謀和設計，並且對之有強烈的傾向和堅決的決心。任何一件惡行中若有更多「心」的成分，就更惡劣，傳8:11。他們的惡行是甚麼呢？接著說：你們在地上（或譯：在國中）稱出強暴的手——那地原是你們受命要維護其安寧的。他們盡力行各樣強暴和損害，或為富己，或為報復；而他們稱出——就是說，1. 他們行事極有詭詐和謹慎：你們用量器和準繩去規劃它（原文如此），好叫它能有效達到你們害人的目的；你們在欺壓的技藝上竟是如此大師。2. 他們是在公義的幌子下行事。他們手中拿著天平（公義的象徵），好像有意要行公義，人也指望從他們得公義，結果卻是強暴和欺壓；正因在法律和公義的藉口下施行，反而更為有效。
二、他們本性的敗壞。這才是那苦根，由此長出苦膽和茵蔯（詩58:3）：心中圖謀不義的惡人，一出母胎就與神疏遠，與神和一切良善疏遠，與那屬神的生命及其法則、能力、喜樂都隔絕了，弗4:18。犯罪的狀態就是與那為我們受造而設計的對神的認識和事奉疏遠的狀態。不要詫異這些惡人竟敢行這樣的事，因為惡在他們骨子裡是天生的；他們把它帶到世上來；他們的本性中對它有強烈的傾向；他們從邪惡的父母那裡學了去，又因不良的教育而被訓練在其中。他們被稱為——而且名實相符——從出母胎就是背叛者；因此除了他們行事詭詐之外，不能指望別的；見賽48:8。他們一出生（就是說，一有可能）就偏離了神和自己的本分；那繫在他們心中的愚妄隨著理性的第一次運用就顯露出來；正如麥子長出來，稗子也一同長出來。這裡舉出人性敗壞的三個例證：1. 虛謊。他們很快學會說謊，並為此彎曲自己的舌頭如同弓，耶9:3。小孩子為掩飾過錯或自誇，會多麼快地撒謊啊！他們一會說話，就說出虧缺神榮耀的話；舌頭所犯的罪，是我們實際罪行中最早的幾樣之一。2. 惡意。他們的毒氣——就是他們的惡意，以及他們對良善和一切敬虔人（特別是對大衛）所存的嫉恨——好像蛇的毒氣，是天生、有毒且極其有害的，是他們永遠無法被治癒的。我們憐憫一條意外中毒的狗，卻恨惡一條天性有毒的蛇。這蛇類之裔對主和祂的受膏者所存的，正是這般可咒詛的敵意。3. 頑梗難馴。他們心懷惡意，無論甚麼都感化不了他們——無論是道理、是恩慈，都無法使他們柔軟下來、恢復較好的性情。他們好像塞耳的聾虺，詩58:4,5。詩人在此既將他所控訴的這些惡人比作蛇（因其惡毒的嫉恨），就藉此再從另一角度將他們比作那聾虺——當時民間有這樣的傳說：人既用音樂或其他法術能行法術使蛇受迷惑，或將其消滅，或至少使牠不能害人，但這聾虺卻將一耳貼地、用尾巴塞住另一耳，因此聽不見念咒的聲音，便挫敗了行法術者的用意，保全了自己。詩人使用這個比方，既不證實那傳說屬實，即便屬實，也不為使用那種法術辯護；這不過是借用這傳說的傳聞，來描繪罪人在犯罪之路上是何等頑梗。神在祂的話語和護理中之旨意，正是要醫治蛇的惡毒；為此，祂的「法術」是何等智慧、何等有大能、何等挑選得精當！義人的言語是何等有力！但對大多數人卻是徒然；原因何在？是因為他們不肯聽。再沒有比那不肯聽的人更聾的了。我們向人吹笛，他們卻不跳舞；他們既塞住耳朵，又怎能跳舞呢？
英文原文
A Reproof to Wicked Judges
To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.
¹ Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
² Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
³ The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
⁴ Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
⁵ Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription (Al-taschith, and Michtam of David) with that which goes before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have been penned with reference to that persecution through which God preserved him (Al-taschith—Destroy not), and therefore the psalms he then penned were precious to him, Michtams—David's jewels, as Dr. Hammond translates it.
In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecuting him. Two things he charges them with:
I. The corruption of their government. They were a congregation, a bench of justices, nay, perhaps, a congress or convention of the states, from whom one might have expected fair dealing, for they were men learned in the laws, had been brought up in the study of these statutes and judgments, which were so righteous that those of other nations were not to be compared with them. One would not have thought a congregation of such could be bribed and biassed with pensions, and yet, it seems, they were, because the son of Kish could do that for them which the son of Jesse could not, 1Sa 22:7. He had vineyards, and fields, and preferments, to give them, and therefore, to please him, they would do any thing, right or wrong. Of all the melancholy views which Solomon took of this earth and its grievances, nothing vexed him so much as to see that in the place of judgment wickedness was there, Ec 3:16. So it was in Saul's time. 1. The judges would not do right, would not protect or vindicate oppressed innocency (Ps 58:1): "Do you indeed speak righteousness, or judge uprightly? No; you are far from it; your own consciences cannot but tell you that you do not discharge the trust reposed in you as magistrates, by which you are bound to be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do well. Is this the justice you pretend to administer? Is this the patronage, this the countenance, which an honest man and an honest cause may expect from you? Remember you are sons of men; mortal and dying, and that you stand upon the same level before God with the meanest of those you trample upon, and must yourselves be called to an account and judged. You are sons of men, and therefore we may appeal to yourselves, and to that law of nature which is written in every man's heart: Do you indeed speak righteousness? And will not your second thoughts correct what you have done?" Note, It is good for us often to reflect upon what we say with this serious question, Do we indeed speak righteousness? that we may unsay what we have spoken amiss and may proceed no further in it. 2. They did a great deal of wrong; they used their power for the support of injury and oppression (Ps 58:2): In heart you work wickedness (all the wickedness of the life is wrought in the heart). It intimates that they wrought with a great deal of plot and management, not by surprise, but with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it and resolution in it. The more there is of the heart in any act of wickedness the worse it is, Ec 8:11. And what was their wickedness? It follows, "You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth" (or in the land), "the peace of which you are appointed to be the conservators of." They did all the violence and injury they could, either to enrich or avenge themselves, and they weighed it; that is, 1. They did it with a great deal of craft and caution: "You frame it by rule and lines" (so the word signifies), "that it may effectually answer your mischievous intentions; such masters are you of the art of oppression." 2. They did it under colour of justice. They held the balances (the emblem of justice) in their hands, as if they designed to do right, and right is expected from them, but the result is violence and oppression, which are practised the more effectually for being practised under the pretext of law and right.
II. The corruption of their nature. This was the root of bitterness from which that gall and wormwood sprang (Ps 58:3): The wicked, who in heart work wickedness, are estranged from the womb, estranged from God and all good, alienated from the divine life, and its principles, powers, and pleasures, Eph 4:18. A sinful state is a state of estrangement from that acquaintance with God and service of him which we were made for. Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them; they have in their natures a strong inclination to it; they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education. They are called, and not miscalled, transgressors from the womb; one can therefore expect no other than that they will deal very treacherously; see Isa 48:8. They go astray from God and their duty as soon as they are born, (that is, as soon as possibly they can); the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts appears with the first operations of reason; as the wheat springs up, the tares spring up with it. Three instances are here given of the corruption of nature:—1. Falsehood. They soon learn to speak lies, and bend their tongues, like their bows, for that purpose, Jer 9:3. How soon will little children tell a lie to excuse a fault, or in their own commendation! No sooner can they speak than they speak to God's dishonour; tongue-sins are some of the first of our actual transgressions. 2. Malice. Their poison (that is, their ill-will, and the spite they bore to goodness and all good men, particularly to David) was like the poison of a serpent, innate, venomous, and very mischievous, and that which they can never be cured of. We pity a dog that is poisoned by accident, but hate a serpent that is poisonous by nature. Such as the cursed enmity in this serpent's brood against the Lord and his anointed. 3. Untractableness. They are malicious, and nothing will work upon them, no reason, no kindness, to mollify them, and bring them to a better temper. They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear, Ps 58:4,5. The psalmist, having compared these wicked men, whom he here complains of, to serpents, for their poisonous malice, takes occasion thence, upon another account, to compare them to the deaf adder or viper, concerning which there was then this vulgar tradition, that whereas, by music or some other art, they had a way of charming serpents, so as either to destroy them or at least disable them to do mischief, this deaf adder would lay one ear to the ground and stop the other with her tail, so that she could not hear the voice of the enchantment, and so defeated the intention of it and secured herself. The using of this comparison neither verifies the story, nor, if it were true, justifies the use of this enchantment; for it is only an allusion to the report of such a thing, to illustrate the obstinacy of sinners in a sinful way. God's design, in his word and providence, is to cure serpents of their malignity; to this end how wise, how powerful, how well-chosen are the charms! How forcible the right words! But all in vain with most men; and what is the reason? It is because they will not hearken. None so deaf as those that will not hear. We have piped unto men, and they have not danced; how should they, when they have stopped their ears?
6-11
Prophetic Imprecations
預言性的咒詛
⁶ 神啊，求你敲碎他們口中的牙齒；耶和華啊，求你敲斷少壯獅子的大牙。 ⁷ 願他們如水流一般漸漸消化；他彎弓射箭的時候，願他們如箭頭被砍斷。 ⁸ 願他們如蝸牛消化而過去；又如婦人所產的胎，未及見日就滅沒。 ⁹ 你們的鼎尚未覺得荊棘的火，他就要像旋風把他們活活地、連他的怒氣一同颳去。 ¹⁰ 義人見仇敵遭報就歡喜；要在惡人的血中洗腳。 ¹¹ 因此人必說：義人誠然有善報；在地上誠然有施行判斷的神。
在這些經文裏，我們有，
I. 大衛對他仇敵、並對神教會和百姓一切仇敵的禱告；因為他是把他們當作這樣的仇敵來看的，所以他是出於公眾的心意來禱告攻擊他們，而非出於任何私人的報復。 1. 他求使他們不能再作進一步的惡害（詩58:6）：神啊，求你敲碎他們口中的牙齒！與其說是使他們不能餵養自己，不如說是使他們不能以別人為獵物（詩3:7）。他沒有說「求你敲斷他們的頸項」（不；讓他們活著可以悔改——不要殺他們，恐怕我的百姓忘記）；而是「求你敲碎他們的牙齒，因為他們是獅子，是少壯獅子，以擄掠為生」。 2. 求使他們在所設的惡謀上失敗，不能得逞：「他彎弓射箭瞄準心中正直的人之時，願他們如箭頭被砍斷（詩58:7）；願箭落在他腳前，永遠達不到目標。」 3. 求使他們和他們的利益消散、化為無有——使他們如水流一般漸漸消化；就是說，如陸地洪水的水，雖然一時看來可怕，不久便滲入地中或退回河道；或者總而言之，如水澆在地上，不能再收回，只漸漸乾涸消失。不虔誠人的洪濤有時使我們害怕（詩18:4），將來也必如此；那威脅要淹沒我們靈魂的狂傲的水，也必如此被退去（詩124:4-5）。讓我們憑信看見他們將來的樣子，那時我們便不懼怕他們如今的光景。他求（詩58:8）使他們如蝸牛消化——蝸牛因自己的移動而消損，每伸一次便留下一些水分，漸漸地必耗盡自己，雖然它在身後留下一道發亮的痕跡。那如同蝸牛住在自己殼中、plenus sui——滿了自己的人——自娛自樂、自恃自靠的人——不過是消損自己，不久便要把自己帶到無有。他又求使他們如婦人所產的胎——才開始活便死了，從未見太陽。約伯在激情之中，曾願自己就是這樣的一個（伯3:16），但他並不知道自己所說的是甚麼。我們可以憑信禱告攻擊教會仇敵的計謀，正如先知所作的（何9:14：耶和華啊，你要給他們甚麼呢？求你給他們墮胎的胎和乾癟的乳），這話也解釋了詩人在此的禱告。
II. 他對他們敗亡的預言（詩58:9）：「你們的鍋尚未覺得荊棘的火——就是在他們底下所燒的荊棘火（這火他們很快就會覺得，因為這是很快的火，雖然猛烈，但為時甚短）——神就要以如此迅速、如此急烈猛烈的火焰，把他們帶走，如同旋風一般可怕而不可抗拒——活活的，如同在烈怒中。」
1. 這些箴言式的表達稍有難度，但意義是清楚的： （1）神的審判常常在惡人歡樂之中突然抓住他們，頃刻之間把他們帶走。當他們開始行在自己火的光中、並自己所點的火星之中的時候，他們便被使躺在痛苦之中（賽50:11）；他們的笑聲便證實如荊棘的爆裂聲——其安慰轉眼即逝，他們還來不及說啊！我暖和了（傳7:6）。 （2）從全能者而來的毀滅面前，無人能站立；因為*誰曉得神怒氣的能力呢？*神要取去罪人時，無論是活的還是死的，他們都不能與他爭辯。惡人被自己的罪孽驅逐而去。
2. 詩人指望自己從罪人毀滅中所得的兩個美好效果： （1）聖徒要因此得著鼓勵和安慰（詩58:10）：義人見仇敵遭報就歡喜。惡人的氣派與權勢、興旺與成功，是義人的阻礙；它們使他們的心憂傷，使他們的手發軟，有時更成為強烈的試探，使他們質疑自己的根基（詩73:2、13）。但當他們看見神的審判把他們帶走，又看見公義的報應因他們向神百姓所行的一切惡而加於他們之時，他們便因自己的疑慮由此得著解答而喜樂，並因自己對神護理、以及他治理世界的公義和正直的信心由此得著堅固而喜樂；他們要因看見他們的結局而勝過那試探，為此歡喜（詩73:17）。他要在惡人的血中洗腳；就是說，必有大量的流血（詩68:23），而聖徒看見神在罪人的滅亡上得榮耀，便如疲乏的旅客得著洗腳一般得著舒暢。這也必助長他們的成聖；看見報應便使他們在神面前戰兢（詩119:120），又使他們確知罪的邪惡，以及他們對那為他們辯屈、不容任何人虧待他們而不受罰的神所有的義務。聖徒在惡人滅亡中的喜樂，當這喜樂有助於使他們成聖、並使他們從罪中得潔淨之時，便是聖潔的喜樂，是合理的。 （2）罪人要因此受感、受勸而歸正（詩58:11）。神在今世有時向惡人所施的報應，必使人說：義人誠然有善報。任何人都可從這樣的護理中得出這推論，許多人也必如此——這些人先前否認甚至這些明顯的真理，或對之懷疑。有人要被強迫作出這樣的認罪；另一些人則心境被改變，情願承認它，並感謝神使他們看見了，並看見了便滿足——神是存在的，並且： [1] 他是他聖徒和僕人豐盛的賞賜者：義人誠然（無論如何，如此也可讀）有果實（善報）；無論他為自己的信仰可能招致甚麼損失、遭受甚麼艱難，他不僅不致因此受虧，反要在結局上得著無可言喻的益處。即使在今世，義人也有善報；他們必在地上得著報答。那些似乎被人輕看、被人藐視、被人離棄的，必被注意、被尊榮、被保護。 [2] 他是世界的公義治理者，必要向他國度的仇敵追討：誠然——無論怎樣，雖然惡人興旺、並向神聖的公義挑戰——必顯明出來，使他們蒙羞：世界不是憑偶然治理的，而是憑一位有無限智慧和公義的；地上有施行判斷的神——雖然他在天上豫備了他的寶座。他主宰世人一切的事務，並照他自己旨意的謀略安排它們，歸於他自己的榮耀；他必刑罰惡人——不僅在來世，更在地上——他們在那裏積蓄了財寶、又應許自己得著福樂——在地上，好使耶和華因他所行的審判被人認識，又使這些審判可被當作將來審判的憑據。他是一位神（我們如此讀）——不是軟弱的人，不是天使，不僅僅是一個名字，不是（如無神論者所暗示的）人的恐懼和幻想所造出來的東西，不是被神化的英雄，不是日頭和月亮（如偶像崇拜者所想像的），而是一位神——一位自有永有的完全者；審判這地的就是他。所以我們當尋求他的喜悅——因為每一個人的判斷都是從他而出，又當把一切判斷都歸給他。
英文原文
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 (Ps 58:6): 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 3:7. 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, Ps 58:7. 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 18:4); so shall the proud waters be reduced, which threaten to go over our soul, Ps 124:4,5. Let us by faith then see what they shall be and then we shall not fear what they are. He prays (Ps 58:8) 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 3:16), but he knew not what he said. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the church's enemies, as the prophet does (Ho 9:14, 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 (Ps 58:9): "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 50:11), 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, Ec 7:6. (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 (Ps 58:10): 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, Ps 73:2,13. 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 73:17. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; that is, there shall be abundance of bloodshed (Ps 68:23), 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 119:120) 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, Ps 58:11. 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.
有人（特別是 Amyraldus 亞米拉爾都）作了這樣可能的推測：在掃羅開始以武力逼迫大衛、調集民兵要捉拿他之前，他曾循法律程序對他提起訴訟，使他未經聽證即被定罪，被大議會——即最高司法機關——判為叛徒，隨後宣佈他為「qui caput gerit lupinum——被放逐之狼」，即任何人皆可殺之、無人可保護的人。長老們為討好掃羅而通過了這項褫奪公權的法案，據推測大衛即因此緣故而寫下本篇。（一）他描述他們的罪，並加以加重（詩五十八1–5）。（二）他咒詛並預言他們的毀滅，以及公義的神將因其不公而降在他們身上的審判（詩五十八6–9），其結果為：1. 聖徒的安慰（詩五十八10）；2. 神的榮耀（詩五十八11）。罪在此顯得極其罪惡、也極其危險，而神則是冤屈的公義報復者；我們在歌唱本篇時，心當為此所感動。