< Psalms 58 >

1 Unto the end. May you not destroy. Of David, with the inscription of a title. If, truly and certainly, you speak justice, then judge what is right, you sons of men.
When you mighty men speak, you never say what is right; you never decide things about people justly [RHQ]!
2 For, even in your heart, you work iniquity. Your hands construct injustice on the earth.
No, in your inner beings you think only about doing what is wrong, and you commit violent crimes in this land [of Israel].
3 Sinners have become foreigners from the womb; they have gone astray from conception. They have been speaking falsehoods.
Wicked people do wrong things and tell lies from the time that they are born [DOU].
4 Their fury is similar to that of a serpent; it is like a deaf asp, who even blocks her ears,
God, show in the heavens how great you are! And show your glory to people all over the earth! What wicked people say [injures people like] the venom of a snake [MET]; They refuse to listen to good advice, [as though they were] cobras that were deaf [MET]!
5 who will not listen to the voice of charmers, nor even to the enchanter who chants wisely.
As a result, [like a snake that does not respond when] a charmer plays a flute or when someone sings magic songs, [they do not pay attention when others rebuke them].
6 God will crush their teeth within their own mouth. The Lord will break the molars of the lions.
God, as for these enemies who [want to attack me like] young lions, break their teeth!
7 They will come to nothing, like water flowing away. He has aimed his bow, while they are being weakened.
Cause them to disappear like water disappears [in dry ground]! Cause the arrows that they shoot to have no (heads/sharp points)!
8 Like wax that flows, they will be carried away. Fire has fallen upon them, and they will not see the sun.
Cause them to become like snails that disappear in the slime; cause them to be like babies that are born dead!
9 Before your thorns could know the brier, he consumes them alive, as if in rage.
Get rid of them [as fast as] thornbushes are blown away [after they are cut] (OR, [as fast as] a fire heats a pot over burning thorns).
10 The just one will rejoice when he sees vindication. He will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
Righteous people will rejoice when they see wicked people being punished as they deserve; they will wash their feet in the blood of wicked people.
11 And man will say, “If the just one is fruitful, then, truly, there is a God judging them on earth.”
[Then] people will say, “It is true that there is a reward for righteous people; and there is indeed a God who judges people justly here on the earth!”

< Psalms 58 >