Psalms 58
1 For the end. Destroy not: by David, for a memorial. If you do indeed speak righteousness, [then] do you judge rightly, you sons of men.
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?
2 For you work iniquities in [your] hearts in the earth: your hands plot unrighteousness.
No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.
3 Sinners have gone astray from the womb: they go astray from the belly: they speak lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.
4 Their venom is like [that] of a serpent; as [that] of a deaf asp, and that stops her ears;
Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
5 which will not hear the voice of charmers, nor [heed] the charm prepared skillfully by the wise.
refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.
6 God has crushed their teeth in their mouth: God has broken the cheek-teeth of the lions.
O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
7 They shall utterly pass away like water running through: he shall bend his bow till they shall fail.
May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.
8 They shall be destroyed as melted wax: the fire has fallen and they have not seen the sun.
Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
9 Before your thorns feel the white thorn, he shall swallow you up as living, as in his wrath.
Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance of the ungodly: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And a man shall say, Verily then there is a reward for the righteous: verily there is a God that judges them in the earth.
Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
