< Psalms 58 >

1 To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam. Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men?
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.
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
For, even in your heart, you work iniquity. Your hands construct injustice on the earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
Sinners have become foreigners from the womb; they have gone astray from conception. They have been speaking falsehoods.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;
Their fury is similar to that of a serpent; it is like a deaf asp, who even blocks her ears,
5 Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.
who will not listen to the voice of charmers, nor even to the enchanter who chants wisely.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
God will crush their teeth within their own mouth. The Lord will break the molars of the lions.
7 Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted:
They will come to nothing, like water flowing away. He has aimed his bow, while they are being weakened.
8 Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun.
Like wax that flows, they will be carried away. Fire has fallen upon them, and they will not see the sun.
9 Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning, — they shall be whirled away.
Before your thorns could know the brier, he consumes them alive, as if in rage.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked:
The just one will rejoice when he sees vindication. He will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
11 And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
And man will say, “If the just one is fruitful, then, truly, there is a God judging them on earth.”

< Psalms 58 >