Psalms 58
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 58 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
10 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (1) follow the text.
Psalms 58
1(59) For the end. Destroy not: by David for a memorial, when Saul sent, and watched his house to kill him.Εἰς τὸ τέλος, μὴ διαφθείρῃς, τῷ Δαυὶδ εἰς στηλογραφίαν, ὁπότε ἀπέστειλε Σαοὺλ, καὶ ἐφύλαξε τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ τοῦ θανατῶσαι αὐτόν.
2Deliver me from my enemies, O God; and ransom me from those that rise up against me.Ἐξελοῦ με ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπανισταμένων ἐπʼ ἐμὲ λύτρωσαί με.
3Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.Ῥῦσαί με ἐκ τῶν ἐργαζομένων τὴν ἀνομίαν, καὶ ἐξ ἀνδρῶν αἱμάτων σῶσόν με.
4For, behold, they have hunted after my soul; violent men have set upon me: neither is it my iniquity, nor my sin, O Lord.Ὅτι ἰδοὺ ἐθήρευσαν τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἐπέθεντο ἐπʼ ἐμὲ κραταιοί· οὔτε ἡ ἀνομία μου, οὔτε ἡ ἁμαρτία μου Κύριε·
5Without iniquity I ran and directed my course aright: awake to help me, and behold.Ανευ ἀνομίας ἔδραμον καὶ κατεύθυνα· ἐξεγέρθητι εἰς συνάντησίν μου, καὶ ἴδε.
6And you, Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, draw near to visit all the heathen; pity not any that work iniquity. Pause.Καὶ σὺ Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, πρόσχες τοῦ ἐπισκέψασθαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, μὴ οἰκτειρήσῃς πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν· διάψαλμα.
7They shall return at evening, and hunger like a dog, and go round about the city.Ἐπιστρέψουσιν εἰς ἑσπέραν, καὶ λιμώξουσιν ὡς κύων, καὶ κυκλώσουσιν πόλιν.
8Behold, they shall utter a voice with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips; for who, say they, has heard?Ἰδοὺ ἀποφθέγξονται ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν, καὶ ῥομφαία ἐν τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτῶν, ὅτι τίς ἤκουσε;
9But you, Lord, will laugh them to scorn; you will utterly set at nothing all the heathen.Καὶ δὺ Κύριε ἐκγελάσῃ αὐτοὺς, ἐξουδενώσεις τάντα τὰ ἔθνη.
10will keep my strength, looking to you; for you, O God, are my helper.Τὸ κράτος μου πρὸς σὲ φυλάξω, ὅτι σὺ ὁ Θεὸς ἀντιλήμπτωρ μου εἶ.
11As for my God, his mercy shall go before me: my God will show me vengeance on my enemies.Ὁ Θεός μου, τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ προφθάσει με, ὁ Θεός μου δείξει μοι ἐν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου.
12Slay them not, lest they forget your * law; scatter them by your power; and bring them down, O Lord, my defender.Μὴ ἀποκτείνῃς αὐτοὺς, μήποτε ἐπιλάθωνται τοῦ νόμου σου· διασκόρπισον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ δυνάμει σου, καὶ κατάγαγε αὐτοὺς ὁ ὑπερασπιστής μου Κύριε.
13For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips, let them be even taken in their pride.Ἁμαρτίαν στόματος αὐτῶν, λόγον χειλέων αὐτῶν, καὶ συλληφθήτωσαν ἐν τῇ ὑπερηφανίᾳ αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐξ ἀρᾶς καὶ ψεύδους διαγγελήσονται
14And for their cursing and falsehood shall utter destruction be denounced: they shall fall by the wrath of utter destruction, and shall not be; so shall they know that the God of Jacob is Lord of the ends of the earth. Pause.συντέλειαι, ἐν ὀργῇ συντελείας, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξουσι· καὶ γνώσονται ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ δεσπόζει τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς· διάψαλμα.
15They shall return at evening, and be hungry as a dog, and go round about the city.Ἐπιστρέψουσιν εἰς ἑσπέραν, καὶ λιμώξουσιν ὡς κύων, καὶ κυκλώσουσι πόλιν·
16They shall be scattered hither and there for meat; and if they be not satisfied, they shall even murmur.Αὐτοὶ διασκορπισθήσονται τοῦ φαγεῖν, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ χορτασθῶσι, καὶ γογγύσουσιν.
17But I will sing to your strength, and in the morning will I exult in your mercy; for you have been my supporter, and my refuge in the day of my affliction.Ἐγὼ δὲ ᾄσομαι τῇ δυνάμει σου, καὶ ἀγαλλιάσομαι τοπρωῒ τὸ ἔλεός σου, ὅτι ἐγενήθης ἀντιλήπτωρ μου καὶ καταφυγή μου ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς μου.
18You are my helper; to you, my God, will I sing; you are my supporter, O my God, and my mercy.Βοηθός μου, σοὶ ψαλῶ ὁ Θεός μου, ἀντιλήμπτωρ μου εἶ ὁ Θεός μου, τὸ ἔλεός μου.
Translator's Notes
These notes come from the printed edition of Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), and record where the Greek differs from the English rendering or admits more than one reading.
- v. 11*some read λαοῦ 'people'.
The Fathers on Psalms 58
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 58:2Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “Deliver me from mine enemies, my God, and from men rising up upon me, redeem Thou me” (ver. 1). There hath been done this thing in the flesh of Christ, it is being done in us also. For our enemies, to wit the devil and his angels, cease not to rise up upon us every day, and to wish to make sport of our weakness and our frailness, by deceptions, by suggestions, by temptations, and by snares of whatsoever sort…
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On Psalms 58:3, 14Saint Augustine of Hippo5. “Deliver me from men working iniquity, and from men of bloods, save Thou me” (ver. 2). They indeed were men of bloods, who slew the Just One, in whom no guilt they found: they were men of bloods, because when the foreigner washed his hands, and would have let go Christ, they cried, “Crucify, Crucify:” they were men of bloods, on whom when there was being charged the crime of the blood of Christ, they made…
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On Psalms 58:4, 15Saint Augustine of Hippo6. “For behold they have hunted my soul.…There have rushed upon me strong men” (ver. 3). We must not however pass on from these strong men: diligently we must trace who are the strong men rising up. Strong men, upon whom but upon weak men, upon powerless men, upon men not strong? And praised nevertheless are the weak men, and condemned are the strong men. If it would be perceived who are strong men, at first the…
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On Psalms 58:4, 16–17Saint Augustine of Hippo7. What next? “Neither iniquity is mine, nor sin mine, O Lord” (ver. 4). There have rushed on indeed strong men on their own righteousness relying, they have rushed on, but sin in me they have not found. For truly those strong men, that is, as it were righteous men, on what account would they be able to persecute Christ, unless it were as if a sinner? But, however, let them look to it how strong they be, in the…
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On Psalms 58:5, 18Saint Augustine of Hippo8. “Without iniquity I did run, and was guided; rise up to meet me, and see.” To God is said this. But why? If He meet not, is He unable to see? It is just as if thou wast walking in a road, and from afar by some one thou couldest not be recognised, thou wouldest call to him and wouldest say, Meet me, and see how I am walking; for when from afar thou espiest me, my steps thou art not able to see. So also unless…
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On Psalms 58:7Saint Augustine of Hippo14. “Let them be converted at the evening” (ver. 6). Of certain men he is speaking that were once workers of iniquity, and once darkness, being converted in the evening. What is, “in the evening”? Afterward. What is “at the evening”? Later. For before, before that they crucified Christ, they ought to have acknowledged their Physician. Wherefore, when He had been crucified—rising again, into Heaven ascending—after…
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On Psalms 58:8–9Saint Augustine of Hippo15. “Behold, themselves shall speak in their mouth, and a sword is on the lips of them” (ver. 7). Here is that sword twice whetted, whereof the Apostle saith, “And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Wherefore twice whetted? Wherefore, but because smiting out of both Testaments? With this sword were slain those whereof it was said to Peter, “Slay, and eat.” “And a sword is on the lips of them. For…
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On Psalms 58:10Saint Augustine of Hippo16. “My strength to Thee I will keep” (ver. 9). For those strong men have fallen for this reason; because their strength to Thee they have not kept: that is, they that upon me have risen up and rushed, on themselves have relied. But I “my strength to Thee will keep:” because if I withdraw, I fall; if I draw near, stronger I am made. For see, brethren, what there is in a human soul. It hath not of itself light,…
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On Psalms 58:11Saint Augustine of Hippo17. “My God, the mercy of Him shall come before me” (ver. 10). Behold what is, “My strength, to Thee I will keep:” on myself I will in no ways at all rely. For what good thing have I brought, that thou shouldest have mercy on me, and shouldest justify me? What in me hast Thou found, save sins alone? Of Thine there is nothing else but the nature which Thou hast created: the other things are mine own evil things…
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On Psalms 58:11, 13Open Psalms 58 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo19. “Scatter them abroad in Thy virtue” (ver. 11). Now this thing hath been done: throughout all nations there have been scattered abroad the Jews, witnesses of their own iniquity and our truth. They have themselves writings, out of which hath been prophesied Christ, and we hold Christ. And if sometime perchance any heathen man shall have doubted, when we have told him the prophecies of Christ, at the clearness…
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