Psalm 58 · a question people ask
"The wicked go astray from the womb" (58:3). Does the psalm say everyone is wicked from birth?
Read the verse by its own words. Its subject is the wicked: "The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (58:3). The psalm sets them beside "The righteous" (58:10), who "shall rejoice" (58:10), and for whom "there is a reward" (58:11) (tap righteous). It doesn't say more about the wicked's birth, and it doesn't speak of anyone else in this verse. Another psalm says something about birth in the first person, of the psalmist himself: "Behold, I was born in iniquity" (Psalm 51:5), and the chapter on Psalm 51 looks at that verse. These notes don't choose a reading of 58:3 beyond its words.
The verses
“The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”
“The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.””
“Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.”