Psalms 58:9
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Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
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 (Psa 58:1-5). II. He imprecates and foretels their ruin, and the judgments which the righteous God would bring upon them for their injustice (Psa 58:6-9) which would redound, 1. To the comfort of the saints (Psa 58:10). 2. To the glory of God (Psa 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. To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.
Open source ↗58:9-10 God’s judgment will come suddenly. The certainty of vindication brings joy to the godly.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.
They swarmed around me like bees, but they were extinguished like burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.
Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.
when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.
No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.
But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.
He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.