Psalm 58 · a question people ask
"Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?" (58:1). Who are the silent ones?
The psalm doesn't name them. It speaks to them as you, and asks whether they "speak righteousness" and "judge blamelessly" (58:1). The next verse answers: "No, in your heart you plot injustice" (58:2). In the WEB the verse goes on, "Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?" (58:1). Silent ones is the WEB's rendering of one Hebrew word, which the Westminster Leningrad Codex prints as elem (tap silent). Brown-Driver-Briggs gives the word as "silence", and Strong's as "silence (i.e. mute justice)". The codex has it only one other time, in the title of Psalm 56 (Psalm 56:1). These notes don't say more about who the silent ones are than the psalm does.
The verses
“For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David. Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men? No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands on the earth.”
“For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me.”