“The wicked are estranged from the womb; these who speak lies go astray from birth. They have venom like the venom of a serpent; like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear…. The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. And men will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth!’” (Psa 58:3–4, 10–11).
Modern readers are often troubled by the graphic imagery of the “righteous” washing his feet in the blood of the wicked (v. 10). Yet this imagery takes on profound significance within the broader eschatological vision of the Hebrew Bible.
It is significant that David uses the metaphor of a deadly serpent to describe his enemies (Psa 58:4), since the Hebrew Bible opens with the prediction of an ancient conflict between the serpent and the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). While the meaning of Genesis 3:15 in its immediate context remains somewhat mysterious, the Torah progressively develops this conflict by portraying Israel’s enemies as serpent-like opponents and the seed of the woman as the coming Messianic King who will crush them in the last days (see Gen 22:17; 24:60; 49:1, 8–12; Num 24:17–18). This Messianic trajectory is later developed throughout the Hebrew Bible as the ultimate hope for God’s people (see Psa 72:8–9, 17; 110:1, 6; Isa 65:25).
Psalm 58 envisions the final defeat of evil, when violence itself will finally cease and nations will not learn war again.
Seen within this broader biblical context, Psalm 58’s vision of the “righteous” (singular) executing God’s vengeance upon the serpent-like enemy fills our hearts with hope that one day “the great dragon… the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Rev 12:9) will be completely defeated. Indeed, Revelation envisions the coming Messianic King clothed in judgment, “clothed with a robe dipped in blood,” the one who “treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty” and whose name is “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev 19:13, 15–16). Rather than endorsing violence, Psalm 58 envisions the final defeat of evil, when violence itself will finally cease and nations will not learn war again (see Isa 2:2–4).
