◄ Psalm 58:10 ►
The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
Study Bible
The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged;
This phrase reflects the biblical theme of divine justice, where the righteous witness God's judgment upon the wicked. Throughout Scripture, there is an assurance that God will ultimately vindicate His people (Deuteronomy 32:43, Revelation 19:1-2). The rejoicing of the righteous is not in personal vengeance but in the fulfillment of God's justice. Historically, this reflects the ancient Near Eastern context where justice was a communal concern, and divine intervention was seen as a cause for celebration. Theologically, it underscores the hope and trust in God's righteous judgment, a theme echoed in the imprecatory psalms and prophetic literature.

they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
This vivid imagery symbolizes the complete and overwhelming victory of God's justice over evil. In ancient warfare, victors often walked through the battlefield, a sign of triumph over their enemies. The phrase is not a literal call to violence but a metaphor for the total defeat of wickedness. It connects to the broader biblical narrative of God's ultimate triumph over evil, as seen in passages like Isaiah 63:1-6 and Revelation 14:19-20. This imagery also foreshadows the final judgment, where evil is decisively defeated. In typology, it points to Christ's victory over sin and death, where His righteousness prevails, and His enemies are subdued.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Righteous
Refers to those who live in accordance with God's laws and seek His justice. In the context of this Psalm, they are the ones who will witness God's judgment on the wicked.

2. The Wicked
Those who oppose God's ways and act unjustly. They are the subjects of divine retribution in this passage.

3. Divine Judgment
The event where God enacts justice, avenging the righteous and punishing the wicked. This is a central theme in the Psalm.
Teaching Points
Understanding Divine Justice
God's justice is perfect and will ultimately prevail. The righteous can take comfort in knowing that God will right all wrongs in His timing.

Rejoicing in Righteousness
The joy of the righteous is not in the suffering of the wicked but in the vindication of God's justice and the establishment of His righteousness.

The Reality of Judgment
This verse serves as a sobering reminder of the reality of divine judgment. It calls believers to live righteously and to warn others of the consequences of wickedness.

The Symbolism of Blood
The imagery of washing feet in blood symbolizes complete victory over evil. It is a metaphor for the total defeat of wickedness and the triumph of God's justice.

Living with an Eternal Perspective
Believers are encouraged to maintain an eternal perspective, trusting that God's justice will ultimately prevail, even when it seems delayed in the present world.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of divine justice in Psalm 58:10 provide comfort to believers facing injustice today?

2. In what ways can we rejoice in God's justice without taking pleasure in the downfall of others?

3. How does the imagery of "washing feet in the blood of the wicked" challenge our understanding of victory and justice?

4. What are some practical ways we can live righteously in anticipation of God's ultimate judgment?

5. How can we use the themes of this Psalm to encourage others who are struggling with the apparent success of the wicked?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Revelation 19:1-2
This passage describes the rejoicing in heaven over God's righteous judgments, similar to the rejoicing of the righteous in Psalm 58:10.

Proverbs 11:10
This verse speaks of the city rejoicing when the wicked perish, paralleling the joy of the righteous in Psalm 58:10.

Deuteronomy 32:43
This verse calls for rejoicing among the nations when God avenges the blood of His servants, echoing the theme of divine retribution.
Sermons
A Full RewardThe Quiver.Psalm 58:10
A Reward for the RighteousSketches of Four Hundred SermonsPsalm 58:10
God's Dealings with MankindJ. S. Pratt.Psalm 58:10
Satisfaction in the Destructive Providences of GodA. Maclaren, D. D.Psalm 58:10
The Character of the RighteousG. Robson.Psalm 58:10
The Marks of a Moral and Judicial GovernmentS. Bourn.Psalm 58:10
The Rejoicing of the Righteous At Thy Overthrow of the WickedPsalm 58:10
The Righteousness of God's Government of MenPsalm 58:10
A Bold Protest Against Unrighteous JudgesC. Short Psalm 58:1-11
Faith in RighteousnessJ. Stalker, D. D.Psalm 58:1-11
Man in Many AspectsHomilistPsalm 58:1-11
The Perversion of JusticePlutarch.Psalm 58:1-11
Unjust JudgesW. Forsyth Psalm 58:1-11
People
David, Psalmist, Saul
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Avenged, Bathe, Blood, Evil-doer, Footsteps, Glad, Punishment, Rejoice, Rejoiceth, Righteous, Sees, Steps, Upright, Vengeance, Wash, Washed, Washeth, Wicked
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 58:10

     5129   bathing

Psalm 58:10-11

     5493   retribution
     7150   righteous, the

Library
Of Internal Acts
Of Internal Acts Acts are distinguished into External and Internal. External acts are those which bear relation to some sensible object, and are either morally good or evil, merely according to the nature of the principle from which they proceed. I intend here to speak only of Internal acts, those energies of the soul, by which it turns internally to some objects, and averts from others. If during my application to God I should form a will to change the nature of my act, I thereby withdraw myself …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Epistle vi. To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari).
To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Gregory to Januarius, &c. The Jews who have come hither from your city have complained to us that Peter, who has been brought by the will of God from their superstition to the worship of Christian faith, having taken with him certain disorderly persons, on the day after his baptism, that is on the Lord's day of the very Paschal festival, with grave scandal and without your consent, had taken possession of their synagogue in Caralis, and placed there the …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Peaceable Principles and True: Or, a Brief Answer to Mr. D'Anver's and Mr. Paul's Books against My Confession of Faith, and Differences in Judgment About Baptism no Bar to Communion.
WHEREIN THEIR SCRIPTURELESS NOTIONS ARE OVERTHROWN, AND MY PEACEABLE PRINCIPLES STILL MAINTAINED. 'Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?'--Psalm 58:1 SIR, I have received and considered your short reply to my differences in judgment about water baptism no bar to communion; and observe, that you touch not the argument at all: but rather labour what you can, and beyond what you ought, to throw odiums upon your brother for reproving you for your error, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Faith the Sole Saving Act.
JOHN vi. 28, 29.--"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." In asking their question, the Jews intended to inquire of Christ what particular things they must do, before all others, in order to please God. The "works of God," as they denominate them, were not any and every duty, but those more special and important acts, by which the creature might secure …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Augustin's Part in the Controversy.
Both by nature and by grace, Augustin was formed to be the champion of truth in this controversy. Of a naturally philosophical temperament, he saw into the springs of life with a vividness of mental perception to which most men are strangers; and his own experiences in his long life of resistance to, and then of yielding to, the drawings of God's grace, gave him a clear apprehension of the great evangelic principle that God seeks men, not men God, such as no sophistry could cloud. However much his …
St. Augustine—Anti-Pelagian Writings

Moral Depravity.
VIII. Let us consider the proper method of accounting for the universal and total moral depravity of the unregenerate moral agents of our race. In the discussion of this subject, I will-- 1. Endeavor to show how it is not to be accounted for. In examining this part of the subject, it is necessary to have distinctly in view that which constitutes moral depravity. All the error that has existed upon this subject, has been founded in false assumptions in regard to the nature or essence of moral depravity. …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

The Necessity of Actual Grace
In treating of the necessity of actual grace we must avoid two extremes. The first is that mere nature is absolutely incapable of doing any thing good. This error was held by the early Protestants and the followers of Baius and Jansenius. The second is that nature is able to perform supernatural acts by its own power. This was taught by the Pelagians and Semipelagians. Between these two extremes Catholic theology keeps the golden mean. It defends the capacity of human nature against Protestants and …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

The Mystery
Of the Woman dwelling in the Wilderness. The woman delivered of a child, when the dragon was overcome, from thenceforth dwelt in the wilderness, by which is figured the state of the Church, liberated from Pagan tyranny, to the time of the seventh trumpet, and the second Advent of Christ, by the type, not of a latent, invisible, but, as it were, an intermediate condition, like that of the lsraelitish Church journeying in the wilderness, from its departure from Egypt, to its entrance into the land …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Wrath of God
What does every sin deserve? God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.' Matt 25: 41. Man having sinned, is like a favourite turned out of the king's favour, and deserves the wrath and curse of God. He deserves God's curse. Gal 3: 10. As when Christ cursed the fig-tree, it withered; so, when God curses any, he withers in his soul. Matt 21: 19. God's curse blasts wherever it comes. He deserves also God's wrath, which is …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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