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Psalm 58:7
Let them vanish like water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
5which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be.
6Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, LORD.
7Let them vanish like water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
8Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
Notice
Water flowing away and arrows made blunt shape a severe prayer against unjust rulers, expressing the longing for those who harm others to lose their power.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What troubles you about the request that these enemies vanish like flowing water?
Write on thisWhere do you long to see the capacity to harm others stopped, like arrows made blunt?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
2 Samuel 14:14For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is …Both compare human life to water that passes beyond reach, though Samuel describes mortality and the psalm seeks enemies’ disappearance.
Joshua 7:5The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the …Water pictures lost strength in both passages: Israel’s courage collapses in Joshua, while the psalm asks that enemies vanish.
Psalm 112:10The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.Both portray the wicked passing away, with Psalm 58 praying for their disappearance and Psalm 112 declaring their desires will perish.
Psalm 64:3who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,Both depict attackers aiming arrows; Psalm 64 identifies those arrows as deadly words, while Psalm 58 asks that arrows become blunt.
Exodus 15:15Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.Both picture opponents losing strength through dissolution: the psalm asks that they flow away, while Exodus describes peoples melting in fear.
Joshua 2:9–11She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt …Flowing away and melting away picture human strength failing, though Joshua describes fear and the psalm asks God to remove enemies.
Isaiah 13:7Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt.Both portray strength failing, though Isaiah describes feeble hands and melting hearts while the psalm asks for enemies to vanish.
1 Samuel 14:16The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away and scattered.The psalm asks for enemies to vanish like water; Samuel describes a multitude melting away and scattering.
Job 24:18“They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed on the earth. They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.Both use water imagery to portray people as lacking permanence: flowing water in the psalm and surface foam in Job.
Psalm 64:7–8But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow.Both concern God acting against attackers, with their arrows blunted in Psalm 58 and God’s arrow striking them in Psalm 64.
Psalm 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.Both compare people to water losing its form, though Psalm 22 describes the speaker’s suffering and Psalm 58 seeks enemies’ disappearance.
2 Samuel 17:10Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with …Both picture strength dissolving, though Samuel describes a brave person melting in fear and the psalm asks that enemies flow away.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The language is harsh because the harm is grave. In this psalm against unjust rulers, the appeal goes to God: let them vanish, let their weapons fail.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).