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?
When you mighty men speak, you never say what is right; you never decide things about people justly [RHQ]!
2 Aye! ye all do work, perversity, —Throughout the land, your hands, weigh out, violence!
No, in your inner beings you think only about doing what is wrong, and you commit violent crimes in this land [of Israel].
3 Lawless men have been estranged from birth, They have gone astray from their nativity, speaking falsehood;
Wicked people do wrong things and tell lies from the time that they are born [DOU].
4 Their poison, is like unto the poison of a serpent, Like the deaf adder, that stoppeth his ear;
God, show in the heavens how great you are! And show your glory to people all over the earth! What wicked people say [injures people like] the venom of a snake [MET]; They refuse to listen to good advice, [as though they were] cobras that were deaf [MET]!
5 That will not hearken to the voice of whisperers, Though the wise one try to bind him with spells.
As a result, [like a snake that does not respond when] a charmer plays a flute or when someone sings magic songs, [they do not pay attention when others rebuke them].
6 O God! break away their teeth in their mouth, The biters of the young lions, knock thou out, O Yahweh!
God, as for these enemies who [want to attack me like] young lions, break their teeth!
7 Let such men flow away like waters that disperse themselves: He prepareth his arrow, Like [grass] let them be cut down:
Cause them to disappear like water disappears [in dry ground]! Cause the arrows that they shoot to have no (heads/sharp points)!
8 Like a snail, which melteth away as it goeth, An untimely birth of a woman, which hath not seen the sun:
Cause them to become like snails that disappear in the slime; cause them to be like babies that are born dead!
9 Before your kettles can perceive the [kindled] bramble, Be he green or be he withered, he shall be swept away.
Get rid of them [as fast as] thornbushes are blown away [after they are cut] (OR, [as fast as] a fire heats a pot over burning thorns).
10 The righteous man will rejoice when he hath seen an avenging, His feet, will he bathe in the blood of the lawless one: —
Righteous people will rejoice when they see wicked people being punished as they deserve; they will wash their feet in the blood of wicked people.
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!
[Then] people will say, “It is true that there is a reward for righteous people; and there is indeed a God who judges people justly here on the earth!”
