Psalms 58:1

¹Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed.

³His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; ⁴but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. ⁵Righteousness will be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his waist.

¹⁸You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

¹God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son. ²He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. ³The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness. ⁴He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.

⁵“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: The LORD our righteousness.

¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. ¹⁶I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.

¹God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods. ²“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah.

⁶and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you don’t judge for man, but for the LORD; and he is with you in the judgment. ⁷Now therefore let the fear of the LORD be on you. Take heed and do it; for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.”

⁶I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High. ⁷Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”

³So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel.