Why read Psalm 57?
Read Psalm 57 to ask for justice in the face of unfair judgment. It challenges those who use authority unjustly; in Christian prayer, judgment is entrusted to God rather than used to justify revenge.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
The full text of Psalm 57 (11 verses), from the 8th Kathisma of the Psalter. The opening words — “If you truly speak righteousness, judge rightly,...” — are also the psalm’s traditional “name”: our grandmothers did not say “psalm 57”, but called it by name, using its first words.
The text of Psalm 57
1. If you truly speak righteousness, judge rightly, sons of men.
2. For in your hearts you work lawlessness on earth; your hands weave injustice.
3. Sinners became estranged from birth; they went astray from the womb and spoke lies.
4. Their anger is like that of a snake, like a deaf viper that stops its ears,
5. Which will not hear the voice of the women who cast spells, or of the sorcerer who charms skilfully.
6. God will crush their teeth in their mouths; the Lord has shattered the molars of the lions.
7. They will become nothing, like water that passes away; He will draw His bow until they grow weak.
8. Like melting wax they will be destroyed; fire fell upon them, and they did not see the sun.
9. Before your thorns catch fire, He will swallow them alive in His anger.
10. The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance against the unbelievers; he will wash his hands in the sinner’s blood.
11. And man will say: “Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! Yes, there is a God who judges them in this life!”
When Psalm 57 is read
- It belongs to the 8th Kathisma and is recited in personal prayer, especially for peace and understanding.
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
Read also
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
