Psalms 58:2

“Yea, in heart ye work wickedness, etc.] So far were they from speaking righteousness, and judging uprightly. The heart of man is wickedness itself; it is desperately wicked, and is the shop in which all wickedness is wrought; for sinful acts are committed there as well as by the tongue and hand, as follows. This phrase also denotes their sinning; not with precipitancy, and through surprise; but with premeditation and deliberation; and their doing it heartily, with good will, and with allowance, and their continuance and constant persisting in it; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth; they were guilty of acts of violence and oppression, which, of all men, judges should not be…”

“This they did not design; but weigh . . . violence--or give decisions of violence. Weigh is a figure to express the acts of judges. in the earth--publicly.”

“Yea, in heart ye work wickedness - Whatever might be the outward appearances, whatever pretences they might make to just judgment, yet in fact their hearts were set on wickedness, and they were conscious of doing wrong. Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth - It is difficult to attach any meaning to this language; the translators evidently felt that they could not express the meaning of the original; and they, therefore, gave what seems to be a literal translation of the Hebrew. The Septuagint renders it, “In heart you work iniquity in the land; your hands weave together iniquity.” The Latin Vulgate: “In heart you work iniquity; in the land your hands prepare injustice.” Luther:…”

“Heart - With free choice and consent. Hands - He intimates that they did great wrong under the pretence of justice, and while they seemed exactly to weigh the true proportion between the actions and the recompenses allotted to them, they turned the scale; and pronounced an unjust sentence. Land - Or, in this land, where God is present, and where you have righteous laws to govern you. Psalms 58:3”

“in heart: Psa 21:11; Ecc 3:16; Isa 59:4-6; Jer 22:16, Jer 22:17; Eze 22:12, Eze 22:27; Mic 3:1-3, Mic 3:9-12; Joh 11:47-53 weigh: Psa 94:20; Isa 10:1, Isa 26:7 Psalms 58:3”