Toni’s Title
Surely the Righteous Still Are Rewarded
ESV Title
God Who Judges the Earth
Literary Type
This is a community lament.
Laments
More than 1/3 of the Psalms fall into the category of complaints to God in situations of limitation or threat. These laments were a form of prayer and praise based on the conviction that God is concerned about people and answers the human cry in ways surpassing human expectation or understanding. Israel’s laments out of distress were a way of praising God even when he seemed absent. The faith of the psalmists is founded on the good news that God intervenes in desperate situations to help those who are distressed. The psalmists share a deep confidence that God is compassionate, concerned, hearing his people and involved with them; God is faithful and trustworthy. A lament is an outcry to God from a responsive heart. Laments came from individuals or from the community.
Examples: Psalms 3-5, 22, 27:7-14, 42, 51, 69, 90, 130, 137 and many others
NT Prayer Guide
Acts 17:26-31; Ro. 1:18-32
Superscription
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.
58
Si vere utique
1 Do you indeed decree righteousness, O you rulers, *
and do you judge uprightly, O children of men?
2 No, you devise evil in your heart, *
and on the earth your hands deal out violence.
3 The ungodly err even from their mother’s womb; *
as soon as they are born, they go astray and speak lies.
4 They are as venomous as the poison of a serpent, *
even like the deaf adder that stops its ears,
5 Which refuses to hear the voice of the charmer, *
no matter how skillful his charming.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; *
smite the jawbones of the ungodly.
7 Let them fall away like water that runs off; *
let them wither like the grass that is trodden underfoot.
8 Let them melt away like a snail, *
and be like a stillborn child that does not see the sun.
9 Before they bear fruit, let them be cut off like a briar; *
let them be like thorns and weeds that are swept away.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when they see the vengeance; *
they shall wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly.
11 So that people shall say, “Truly, there is a reward for the righteous; *
surely, there is a God who judges the earth.”