Psalms 58
1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness in silence? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
For the music director. According to “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm (miktam) of David. You leaders, do you really say what is right? Do you judge people fairly?
2 No! In heart ye work wickedness. Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
No, for in your minds you plan evil. You cause violence everywhere!
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The wicked are sinners from birth; from the moment they're born they tell lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops her ear,
They have venom like that of a poisonous snake, and just like a cobra they stop listening,
5 which hearkens not to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely.
refusing to hear the voice of the snake charmers or the spellbinders.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
God, break their teeth, and smash the jaws of these lions, Lord.
7 Let them melt away as water that runs with haste. When he aims his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off,
May they vanish like water that flows away; when they shoot their arrows may they miss their mark.
8 as a snail which melts and passes away, as the untimely birth of a woman, that has not seen the sun.
May they be like the slime of snails that dissolves away, like a stillborn child that never saw the light of day.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
Before the cooking pot is hot from burning thorns, whether fresh or dry, God will blow them away.
10 A righteous man shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
Those who live right will be happy when they see there is punishment; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 so that men shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous man. Truly there is a God who judges in the earth.
They will say, “There is definitely a reward for those who live right; there is certainly a God who judges fairly on earth.”
