Psalms 58

1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness in silence? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

TO THE OVERSEER. “DO NOT DESTROY.” A MIKTAM OF DAVID. Is it true, O silent one, that you speak righteously? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

2 No! In heart ye work wickedness. Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

Even in heart you work iniquities, In the land you ponder the violence of your hands.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.

4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops her ear,

Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf cobra shutting its ear,

5 which hearkens not to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely.

Which does not listen to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of most skillful charms.

6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

O God, break their teeth in their mouth, Break down the jaw-teeth of young lions, O YHWH.

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,

They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceeds as they cut themselves off.

8 as a snail which melts and passes away, as the untimely birth of a woman, that has not seen the sun.

He goes on as a snail that melts, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

Before your pots discern the bramble, As living, He whirls away in His burning anger.

10 A righteous man shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

The righteous rejoices that he has seen vengeance, He washes his steps 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.

And man says: “Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!”