Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 58:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 58:6: Within “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment,” the line “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Rulers are asked whether they actually judge, then unmasked
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 58:1–11. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 58:1–11
Read Psalms 58:6 with 58:1–11. Read alone, “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 58:1–11, the communal voice carries the movement “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment” as part of “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment.” Its communal-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 58:1–11 opens Psalm 58 with “Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?” and establishes the communal voice and “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 58:6 adds the distinct poetic line “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” within “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope.
Follow the Context
- Identify the communal voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 58:1–11; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 58:1–11, the communal voice carries the movement “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment” as part of “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment.” Its communal-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The poem's severe images expose corrupt judgment; they are prayer and rhetoric, not instructions for mutilation, vigilantism, or partisan hate.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 58:6 does not allow “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse adds the distinct poetic line “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” within “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The complete movement is “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The poem's severe images expose corrupt judgment; they are prayer and rhetoric, not instructions for mutilation, vigilantism, or partisan hate.
What Remains True
In “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment,” Psalm 58:6 adds the distinct poetic line “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” within “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The resulting truth stays bounded by this movement: Praise and prayer become truthful when they attend to people harmed by predatory power and pursue protection, generosity, and fair judgment. The local movement is “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The poem's severe images expose corrupt judgment; they are prayer and rhetoric, not instructions for mutilation, vigilantism, or partisan hate.
How It Can Shape Life
- Start with the line's work inside “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment”—Psalm 58:6 adds the distinct poetic line “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” within “A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgment,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. Then let “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth” test worship and public claims by their effect on vulnerable people; correct one practice that hides or compounds harm.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 58:1–11 — A protest against corrupt rulers and violent judgmentSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
The poem's severe images expose corrupt judgment; they are prayer and rhetoric, not instructions for mutilation, vigilantism, or partisan hate.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 58:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 58:1–11
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 58:1–11.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 58 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 58:1–11
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Summary, Outline, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to Psalms 58:1–11
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 58 for Psalms 58:1–11
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access research overview
An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms: Reformed and Evangelical Approaches to the Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms
Daniel Simango and P. Paul Krüger
Old Testament Essays 29.3, 2016
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Exact location: Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 58:1–11
Open the imprecatory-psalm overview ↗peer reviewed open access literary and ethical study
Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words in the 21st century
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford
Acta Theologica Supplementum 32, 2021
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
Exact location: deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 58:1–11
Open deClaissé-Walford on imprecation ↗