“Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”
The reference to the wicked refusing to hear the voice of charmers suggests that they are impervious to wisdom and reason, that they cannot be dissuaded from their wicked course through rational appeal. The imagery of the charmer invoking spells suggests that even ancient wisdom traditions recognize the reality of such incorrigibility: some beings are fundamentally unreachable by ordinary means. The refusal to hear indicates a volitional choice: the wicked do not lack understanding but actively reject appeals to righteousness. This verse establishes that the wicked cannot be reformed through external intervention and justifies the need for divine judgment.
Church Fathers on Psalms 58:5
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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