“The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.”
The affirmation that the righteous will rejoice when they see the vindication and wash their feet in the blood of the wicked establishes the liturgical response to divine judgment: the righteous will celebrate and participate in the visible vindication of justice. The imagery of washing feet in blood suggests intense participation in the defeat of enemies; the victory is so complete and so visible that it can be literally waded through. The reference to rejoicing establishes that the vindication of justice produces joy and celebration in those who have suffered. This verse articulates the communal worship response to the execution of divine judgment.
Church Fathers on Psalms 58:10
1. The words which we have sung must be rather hearkened to by us, than proclaimed. For to all men as it were in an assemblage of mankind, the Truth cries, “If truly indeed justice ye speak, judge right things, you sons of men” Psalm 57:1. For to what unjust man is it not an easy thing to speak justice? Or what man if questioned about justice, when he has not a cause, would not easily answer what is just? Inasmuch as the hand of our Maker in our very hearts has written this…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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