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Psalm 125 · a question people ask

"the scepter of wickedness" (125:3). Whose scepter is it?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say. It names no king, nation or person, and gives no time or place. It says only what the scepter won't do, "remain over the allotment of the righteous", and why: "so that the righteous won’t use their hands to do evil" (125:3). Scepter is shevet, the word of "A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom" (Psalm 45:6) (tap scepter). Psalm 45 speaks of a scepter of equity, and Psalm 125 of a scepter of wickedness; Psalm 125 says no more about who holds it, and these notes don't name anyone, then or now.

The verses

“For the scepter of wickedness won’t remain over the allotment of the righteous, so that the righteous won’t use their hands to do evil.”
Psalm 125:3 · World English Bible
“Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.”
Psalm 45:6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 125

Psalm 125: Like Mount Zion

Psalm 125 gives two pictures: those who trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which can't be moved, and the LORD is around his people as the mountains are around Jerusalem. The WEB's two remains are two Hebrew verbs: Zion stays; the scepter of wickedness won't settle over the allotment of the righteous, so that they won't use their hands to do evil.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions