Psalms 58 TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, AL TAS-CHITH, MICTAM OF DAVID. <<AL TAS-CHITH, MICTAM>> S.R. Hirsch explains these two words to connote, A PLEA TO BE PROTECTED FROM DISASTER, A MEMORIAL OF PAST EVENTS.   [Psalms 58:1] DO YE INDEED SPEAK RIGHTEOUSNESS, O CONGREGATION? DO YE JUDGE UPRIGHTLY,  O YE SONS OF MEN?                        [Psalms 58:2] YEA, IN HEART YE WORK WICKEDNESS; YE WEIGH THE VIOLENCE OF YOUR HANDS IN THE EARTH. This Psalm is against they who claim to stand for righteousness but have evil intentions and speak with wrongly against others.  These people (like anti-Semites) promote violence and discrimination against Jews yet they claim that such is not their intention, why they are not even anti-Semitic!                       [Psalms 58:3] THE WICKED ARE ESTRANGED FROM THE WOMB: THEY GO ASTRAY AS SOON AS THEY  BE BORN, SPEAKING LIES.  This does not necessarily mean that people are born bad.  It is just that one cannot do evil and expect good to come of it. As soon as evil is done the doer becomes wicked.   <<THEY GO ASTRAY AS SOON AS THEY  BE BORN, SPEAKING LIES>>: This can also be understood to say that they who speak falsely lead themselves astray from the destined path they were meant to follow from birth.              [Psalms 58:4] THEIR POISON IS LIKE THE POISON OF A SERPENT: THEY ARE LIKE THE DEAF ADDER  THAT STOPPETH HER EAR;   The serpent represents lying speech and misrepresentation. In the Garden of Eden the Serpent spoke with a "evil [false] tongue" against the Almighty  (Genesis 3:4-5).   Also while other wild beasts will attack for definable reasons, i.e. they are hungry, you have frightened them, or are intruding on them, etc, the Serpent is liable to attack you for no known reason. This is likened unto someone who tells fasle tales about another.  More often than not the person telling the false tales has nothing to gain by it but they do it anyway, SURELY THE SERPENT WILL BITE WITHOUT ENCHANTMENT; AND A BABBLER IS NO BETTER . [The Preacher-Ecclesiates 10:11]                    [Psalms 58:5] WHICH WILL NOT HEARKEN TO THE VOICE OF CHARMERS, CHARMING NEVER SO  WISELY. As much as you reason with them it will not avail. Their mind is made up and even if it is not  they are guided by instincts more debased than intellect.   <<VOICE>>: In Hebrew "KOL" and this is probably where the English word "call" comes from.                      [Psalms 58:6] BREAK THEIR TEETH, O GOD, IN THEIR MOUTH: BREAK OUT THE GREAT TEETH OF THE YOUNG LIONS, O LORD.  The tellers of lies and slander are like ravenous lions who need to have their teeth broken permanently.  David (Malbim) is praying that the tellers of slander will suffer from their own mischievous intentions backfiring on them like the teeth of young lions breaking on the bones of prey it intends to devour.                      [Psalms 58:7] 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.                        [Psalms 58:8] 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. When a snail crawls along he leaves a slimy trail behind him as if he was melting.                       [Psalms 58:9] BEFORE YOUR POTS CAN FEEL THE THORNS, HE SHALL TAKE THEM AWAY AS WITH A  WHIRLWIND, BOTH LIVING, AND IN HIS WRATH.  Thorns dry up quickly and in the old days when cooking used to be done over a fireplace, dried thorns would be used to get the fire going and the cooking-pot hot as soon as possible. In other words David is requesting the Almighty to make a quick end to the reprobates.  We have also had experience of people saying they are on our side, or on the side of Judah, or Joseph, speaking against us and a minute later denying ever doing so.                      [Psalms 58:10] THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE WHEN HE SEETH THE VENGEANCE: HE SHALL WASH HIS FEET IN THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED.  Not only will the evil intentions of the wicked backfire on them but the righteous shall benefit from their downfall.                      [Psalms 58:11] SO THAT A MAN SHALL SAY, VERILY THERE IS A REWARD FOR THE RIGHTEOUS: VERILY  HE IS A GOD THAT JUDGETH IN THE EARTH.     God does good unto the good and bad unto the wicked. It always works out that way in the long run but we do not always see it .