Psalms 58
1 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?
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, for in your minds you plan evil. You cause violence everywhere!
Even in heart you work iniquities, In the land you ponder the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked are sinners from birth; from the moment they're born they tell lies.
The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like that of a poisonous snake, and just like a cobra they stop listening,
Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf cobra shutting its ear,
5 refusing to hear the voice of the snake charmers or the spellbinders.
Which does not listen to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of most skillful charms.
6 God, break their teeth, and smash the jaws of these lions, Lord.
O God, break their teeth in their mouth, Break down the jaw-teeth of young lions, O YHWH.
7 May they vanish like water that flows away; when they shoot their arrows may they miss their mark.
They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceeds as they cut themselves off.
8 May they be like the slime of snails that dissolves away, like a stillborn child that never saw the light of day.
He goes on as a snail that melts, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.
9 Before the cooking pot is hot from burning thorns, whether fresh or dry, God will blow them away.
Before your pots discern the bramble, As living, He whirls away in His burning anger.
10 Those who live right will be happy when they see there is punishment; they will wash their 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 They will say, “There is definitely a reward for those who live right; there is certainly a God who judges fairly on earth.”
And man says: “Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!”
