Psalm 58:8-10

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 58:8 tn There is no “to be” verb in the Hebrew text at this point, but a jussive tone can be assumed based on vv. 6-7.
2. Psalm 58:8 tn Heb “like a melting snail [that] moves along.” A. Cohen (Psalms [SoBB], 184) explains that the text here alludes “to the popular belief that the slimy trail which the snail leaves in its track is the dissolution of its substance.”
3. Psalm 58:8 tn The words “let them be like” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The jussive mood is implied from the preceding context, and “like” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).
4. Psalm 58:8 tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.
5. Psalm 58:9 tn Heb “before your pots perceive thorns.”
6. Psalm 58:9 tn Apparently God (v. 6) is the subject of the verb here.
7. Psalm 58:9 tn Heb “like living, like burning anger he will sweep it away.” The meaning of the text is unclear. The translation assumes that within the cooking metaphor (see the previous line) חַי (khay, “living”) refers here to raw meat (as in 1 Sam 2:15, where it modifies בָּשָׂר, basar, “flesh”) and that חָרוּן (kharun; which always refers to God’s “burning anger” elsewhere) here refers to food that is cooked. The pronominal suffix on the verb “sweep away” apparently refers back to the “thorns” of the preceding line. The image depicts swift and sudden judgment. Before the fire has been adequately kindled and all the meat cooked, the winds of judgment will sweep away everything in their path.
8. Psalm 58:10 tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.