Psalms 58
1 To the Chief Musician. "Do not Destroy." A precious Psalm, of David. Are ye, indeed, silent [when] righteousness, ye should speak? When, with equity, ye should judge, O 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 Aye! ye all do work, perversity, —Throughout the land, your hands, weigh out, violence!
For, even in your heart, you work iniquity. Your hands construct injustice on the earth.
3 Lawless men have been estranged from birth, They have gone astray from their nativity, speaking falsehood;
Sinners have become foreigners from the womb; they have gone astray from conception. They have been speaking falsehoods.
4 Their poison, is like unto the poison of a serpent, Like the deaf adder, that stoppeth his ear;
Their fury is similar to that of a serpent; it is like a deaf asp, who even blocks her ears,
5 That will not hearken to the voice of whisperers, Though the wise one try to bind him with spells.
who will not listen to the voice of charmers, nor even to the enchanter who chants wisely.
6 O God! break away their teeth in their mouth, The biters of the young lions, knock thou out, O Yahweh!
God will crush their teeth within their own mouth. The Lord will break the molars of the lions.
7 Let such men flow away like waters that disperse themselves: He prepareth his arrow, Like [grass] let them be cut down:
They will come to nothing, like water flowing away. He has aimed his bow, while they are being weakened.
8 Like a snail, which melteth away as it goeth, An untimely birth of a woman, which hath not seen 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 kettles can perceive the [kindled] bramble, Be he green or be he withered, he shall be swept away.
Before your thorns could know the brier, he consumes them alive, as if in rage.
10 The righteous man will rejoice when he hath seen an avenging, His feet, will he bathe in the blood of the lawless one: —
The just one will rejoice when he sees vindication. He will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
11 So that a son of earth may say—Surely there is fruit for the righteous man! Surely there are gods who judge in the earth!
And man will say, “If the just one is fruitful, then, truly, there is a God judging them on earth.”
