Kommentar zu Tehillim 58:20

michtam The name of the melody of a song.

Is it true Heb. האמנם. This is an expression of truth.

Is it true that you were silent about the righteousness that you should have spoken, etc. He recited this psalm concerning [the incident] when he entered the barricade where Saul was lying, took the spear and the jug, went away, and called, “Will you not answer, Abner?” (I Sam. 26:14). That is to say, “Shouldn’t you now prove to Saul and show him that he pursues me for no reason? For had I wished, I would have killed him.” And so did he say in his song: Is it true that the righteousness that you should have said and the equities with which you should have judged have been silenced from your mouth? The righteousness that you should have spoken.

Even in your heart, you plot injustice And not only that, but in your heart you plot evil, to do injustice.

injustice lit. wrongs, like עַוָלוֹת as one says from שוֹר, שורים, and from עיר, עירים (Jud. 10: 4): “and they had thirty cities (עירים),” which is an expression of עיר, a city.

in the earth, you weigh down the violence of your hands Inside the earth, you weigh down the violence of your hands until it is very heavy. תְפַלֵּסוּן is contrepesez or contrepezeres in Old French, you outweigh. (See Isa. 26:7.)

The wicked become estranged [even] from the womb From their mother’s womb they become strange to the Holy One, blessed be He, in the way that Esau did (Gen. 25:22): “And the children moved violently against each other in her womb.”

become estranged Heb. זֹרו, like נזורוּ, the same construction as (Jer. 2:12): “O heavens (שֹֹֹמו), be astonished”; (Gen. 49:23), “they heaped bitter abuse upon him and became [his] opponents (ורֹבו)”; (Job 24:24), “They are taken away (רוֹמוּ) in a second.” All these are in the passive voice.

They have venom They have venom to kill people, like the venom of a serpent.

like a deaf cobra that closes its ear When the snake ages, it becomes deaf in one ear, and closes the other ear with dust so that it should not hear the incantation of the charmer, adjuring it not to cause injury.

Which will not hear, etc. This is connected to the preceding verse: “and it closes its ear in order not to hear the voice of charmers.”

caster of spells who knows how to charm snakes.

molars The inner teeth, called messelers in Old French, molars, grinders.

Let them be rejected by themselves, that they will be rejected in their own eyes from worry, and as [if] in water let them walk. Similar to this is (Ezek. 7:17): “and all knees will go [as in] water,” from tears.

He will aim His arrows i.e., the Holy One, blessed be He, so that they will be cut off. יתמֹללוּ is soyent preciz, let them be cut off.

a snail Heb. שבלול. Some interpret it as limace in Old French, a snail (as in Lev. 11:30). Others interpret it as שבֹּלת, a current of water (below 69:16). The “lammed” is doubled, as from (Job 18: 16): “his branch will be cut off (ימל) ; (below 90:6), “will be cut off (ימולל) and will dry up.”

melts it continuously melts. תֶּמֶס is a noun, the “mem” being the fundamental radical and the “tav” a defective radical, like the “tav” of (Lev. 20:12): “they committed a disgraceful act (תבל).”

a mole Heb. נפל אשת, talpe in Old French, which has no eyes. It is identified as תִּנְשֶׁמֶת (in Lev. 11:30), translated [by Onkelos] as אשותא. So did our Sages explain it (M.K. 6b). Others explain it as a stillbirth of a woman. אשת is like (Ezek. 23:44): “women of (אשת) lewdness.” There is a “tav” without the construct state, as (Prov. 4:9): “she will transmit to you, a crown of glory (עטרת תפארת),” like “a stillbirth of a woman (אשה),” for the stillbirths born did not see the sun. According to the former explanation, it is like נפל ואשת, a stillbirth and a mole, as (Jer. 11:19): “And I was like a lamb a bull (ככבש אלוף),” which Menachem explained: like a lamb and a bull (ככבש ואלוף). That is, a bull; here too, a stillbirth and a mole נפל ואשת. It is proper to emend.

Before your tender briars develop into hardened thorns lit. before your tender briars know hardened thorns. That before your tender briars know to be hardened thorns, i.e., before the children of the wicked grow up.

with vigor, with wrath i.e., with might, with strength, and with wrath will the Holy One, blessed be He, drive them away as [with] a storm wind.

with vigor חי is an expression of might.

And man will say, “Truly, the righteous man has reward” Then people will say, “Surely there is reward and recompense in the deeds of the righteous, since the Holy One, blessed be He, avenged their wrongs.”

there is a God A Judge, Who judges the wicked on the earth.