the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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New Living Translation
Psalms 58:3
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- InternationalParallel Translations
The wicked are estranged from the womb;These who speak falsehood wander in error from birth.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.
The vngodly are straungers euen from their mothers wombe: assoone as they be borne, they go astray and speake a lye.
The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from the belly, speaking lies.
Those wicked people started doing wrong as soon as they were born. They have been liars from birth.
The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the wombe, they goe astray as soone as they be borne, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
The vngodly are frowarde, eue from their mothers wombe: as soone as they be borne, they go astraie & speake lyes.
The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle; their first words out of the womb are lies. Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison, drips from their forked tongues— Deaf to threats, deaf to charm, decades of wax built up in their ears.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; These go astray from birth, speaking lies [even twisted partial truths].
The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The evil-doers are strange from the first; from the hour of their birth they go out of the true way, saying false words.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from their birth: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked turn aside from birth; liars go astray as soon as they are born.
You have done wrong and lied from the day you were born.
[No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs, your hands dispense violence in the land.
The wicked are strangers from ye wombe: euen from the belly haue they erred, and speake lyes.
The wicked are known from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out in the earth the violence of your hands.
The sinful go wrong as soon as they are born. Those who speak lies go the wrong way from birth.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.
The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.
Lawless men have been estranged from birth, They have gone astray from their nativity, speaking falsehood;
(57-4) The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.
The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray from the belly, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
The wicked have turned away from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.
From birth, evil people turn away from God; they wander off and tell lies as soon as they are born.
Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.
The wicked go astray from the womb; liars err from birth.
Synneris weren maad aliens fro the wombe; thei erriden fro the wombe, thei spaken false thingis.
The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.
Contextual Overview
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be sung to the tune "Do Not Destroy!"
Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly? 2 No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land. 3 These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way. 4 They spit venom like deadly snakes; they are like cobras that refuse to listen, 5 ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play.Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
estranged: etc. Psalms 51:5, Job 15:14, Proverbs 22:15, Isaiah 48:8, Ephesians 2:3
as soon: etc. Heb. from the belly, Psalms 22:10, Isaiah 46:3
Reciprocal: Genesis 8:21 - the imagination Psalms 4:2 - leasing Psalms 5:9 - For Psalms 10:7 - and deceit Psalms 36:3 - The words Psalms 144:8 - mouth Proverbs 20:11 - General Isaiah 1:4 - gone away backward Matthew 3:7 - O generation Matthew 15:11 - but Matthew 23:33 - serpents Mark 7:21 - out
Gill's Notes on the Bible
The wicked are estranged from the womb,.... Which original corruption of nature accounts for all the wickedness done by men: they are conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity, and are transgressors from the womb; they are alienated from God, and from that godly life which is agreeable to him, and he requires; and from the knowledge and fear of him, and love to him; and they desire not the knowledge of him nor his ways; they are far from his law, and averse to it; and still more so to the Gospel of Christ; the doctrines of which, as well as the great things written in the law, are strange things to them; and they are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, estranged from the people of God, know nothing of them, neither of their joys, nor of their sorrows;
they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies; they are wicked from their infancy, from their youth upward; and sin, which is meant by "going astray", as soon as they are capable of it, and which is very early. Sin soon appears in the temper and actions of then; they go out of God's way, and turn everyone to their own way, and walk in the broad road which leads to destruction: and particularly they are very early guilty of lying; as soon as they can speak, and before they can speak plain, they lisp out lies, which they learn from their father the devil, who is the father of lies; and so they continue all their days strangers to divine things, going astray from God, the God of truth, continually doing abominations and speaking lies; which continuance in these things makes the difference between reprobate men and God's elect; for though the latter are the same by nature as the former, yet their natures are restrained, before conversion, from going into all the sins they are inclined to; and if not, yet at conversion a stop is put to their progress in iniquity.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The wicked are estranged from the womb - The allusion here undoubtedly is to the persons principally referred to in the psalm - the enemies of David. But their conduct toward him suggests a more general reflection in regard to “all” the wicked as having the same characteristics. The psalmist, therefore, instead of confining his remarks to them, makes his observations general, on the principle that all wicked men have essentially the same character, and especially in respect to the thing here affirmed, that they go astray early; that they are apostate and alienated from God from their very birth. The words, “the wicked,” here do not necessarily refer to the whole human family (though what is thus affirmed is true of all the human race), but to people who in their lives develop a wicked character; and the affirmation in regard to them is that they go astray early in life - from their very infancy.
Strictly speaking, therefore, it cannot be shown that the psalmist in this declaration had reference to the whole human race, or that he meant to make a universal declaration in regard to man as being early estranged or alienated from God; and the passage, therefore, cannot directly, and with exact propriety, be adduced to prove the doctrine that “original sin” pertains to all the race - whatever may be true on that point. If, however, it is demonstrated from “other” passages, and from facts, that all men “are” “wicked” or depraved, then the assertion here becomes a proof that this is from the womb - from their very birth - that they begin life with a propensity to evil - and that all their subsequent acts are but developments of the depravity or corruption with which they are born. It is only, therefore, after it is proved that people “are” depraved or “wicked,” that this passage can be cited in favor of the doctrine of original sin.
The word rendered are “estranged” - זרוּ zorû - means properly, “to go off, to turn aside,” or “away, to depart;” and then it comes to mean “to be strange,” or “a stranger.” The proper idea in the word is that one is a stranger, or a foreigner, and the word would be properly applied to one of another tribe or nation, like the Latin “hostis,” and the Greek ξείνος xeinos. Exodus 30:33; Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 29:5; Psalms 44:20. The meaning of the term as thus explained is, that, from earliest childhood, they are “as if” they belonged to another people than the people of God; they manifest another spirit; they are governed by other principles than those which pertain to the righteous. Compare Ephesians 2:19. Their first indications of character are not those of the children of God, but are “alien, strange, hostile” to him. The phrase “from the womb,” refers, undoubtedly, to their birth; and the idea is, that as soon as they begin to act they act wrong; they show that they are strangers to God. Strictly speaking, this passage does not affirm anything directly of what exists in the heart “before” people begin to act, for it is by their “speaking lies” that they show their estrangement; yet it is proper to “infer” that where this is universal, there “is” something lying back of this which makes it certain that they “will” act thus - just as when a tree always bears the same kind of fruit, we infer that there is something “in” the tree, back of the actual “bearing” of the fruit, which makes it certain that it “will” bear such fruit and no other. This “something” in the heart of a child is what is commonly meant by “original sin.”
They go astray - The Hebrew word used here means to go astray, to wander, to err. It is used in reference to drunken persons who reel, Isaiah 28:7; and to the soul, as erring or wandering from the paths of truth and piety, Ezekiel 48:11; Psalms 95:10; Psalms 119:110; Proverbs 21:16. The “manner” in which the persons here referred to did this, is indicated here by their “speaking lies.”
As soon as they be born - Margin, as in Hebrew, “from the belly.” The meaning is, not that they speak lies “as soon as” they are born, which could not be literally true, but that this is the “first act.” The first thing “done” is not an act of holiness, but an act of sin - showing what is in the heart.
Speaking lies - They are false in their statements; false in their promises; false in their general character. This is one of the forms of sin, indicating original depravity; and it is undoubtedly selected here because this was particularly manifested by the enemies of David. They were false, perfidious, and could not be trusted. If it be proved, therefore, that all people are wicked, then “this” passage becomes a proper and an important text to demonstrate that this wickedness is not the result of temptation or example, but that it is the expression of the depravity of the heart by nature; that the tendency of man by nature is not to goodness, but to sin; that the first developments of character are sinful; that there is something lying of sinful acts in people which makes it certain that they will act as they do; and that this always manifests itself in the first acts which they perform.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 58:3. The wicked are estranged from the womb — "This," says Dr. Kennicott, "and the next two verses, I take to be the answer of Jehovah to the question in the two first verses, as the Psalms 58:6, Psalms 58:7, and Psalms 58:8, are the answer of the psalmist, and the remainder contains the decree of Jehovah." He calls these wicked men, men who had been always wicked, originally and naturally bad, and brought up in falsehood, flattery, and lying. The part they acted now was quite in character.
