< Psalms 58 >

1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David. Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?
Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title. If in very deed you speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men.
2 No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.
For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.
The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.
4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ears:
5 refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.
Which will not hear the voice of the charmers; nor of the wizard that charmeth wisely.
6 O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions.
7 May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.
They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent his bow till they be weakened.
8 Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away.
Before your thorns could know the brier; he swalloweth them up, as alive, in his wrath.
10 The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
11 Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.

< Psalms 58 >