What Does Psalm 58:10 Mean in the King James?
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Hebrew washing verb that describes hands washed in innocence in Psalm 26:6 here washes feet in the wicked person’s blood, making judgment bodily and graphic.
THE MEANING
You are shown a righteous person who rejoices when vengeance becomes visible, then washes their feet in the wicked person’s blood. The verse holds joy and judgment together in an unhidden image of bloodshed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that righteousness must always look gentle: here the righteous rejoice at vengeance and stand with their feet in the wicked’s blood.
THE ROOT
יִרְחַץ
yirḥaṣ
GROWS FROM
רחץ
r-ḥ-ṣ
to wash or bathe
“wash” in this verse is yirḥaṣ. This root makes the scene an act of washing, not just a loose image of victory. Psalm 26:6 uses the same verb for hands washed in innocence, while this verse places the righteous person’s feet in blood; one Hebrew action frames sharply opposed scenes.
ALSO GROWS
yirḥaṣ: The verb form used for washing in this verse.
יִרְחַץ
Its object is the righteous person’s feet, and the washing takes place in the wicked person’s blood.
ʾerḥaṣ: The same root in a first-person verb form, used in Psalm 26:6.
אֶרְחַץ
There the speaker washes his hands in innocence, giving the same washing verb a starkly different setting.
THE PATTERN
Scripture can place praise and rejoicing directly beside the public execution of vengeance.
Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.THE THREAD
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:The verb translated “wash” here comes from the same Hebrew root as the washing in Psalm 26:6. There, hands are washed in innocence; here, feet are washed in blood, so the shared root makes the contrast exact and bodily.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us