Psalms 58
1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
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?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
No, for in your minds you plan evil. You cause violence everywhere!
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
The wicked are sinners from birth; from the moment they're born they tell lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
They have venom like that of a poisonous snake, and just like a cobra they stop listening,
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
refusing to hear the voice of the snake charmers or the spellbinders.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Yhwh.
God, break their teeth, and smash the jaws of these lions, Lord.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
May they vanish like water that flows away; when they shoot their arrows may they miss their mark.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
May they be like the slime of snails that dissolves away, like a stillborn child that never saw the light of day.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
Before the cooking pot is hot from burning thorns, whether fresh or dry, God will blow them away.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Those who live right will be happy when they see there is punishment; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
They will say, “There is definitely a reward for those who live right; there is certainly a God who judges fairly on earth.”
