< Psalms 58 >
1 To the Overseer. — 'Destroy not.' — A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O 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 Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.
For, even in your heart, you work iniquity. Your hands construct injustice on the earth.
3 The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
Sinners have become foreigners from the womb; they have gone astray from conception. They have been speaking falsehoods.
4 Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,
Their fury is similar to that of a serpent; it is like a deaf asp, who even blocks her ears,
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.
who will not listen to the voice of charmers, nor even to the enchanter who chants wisely.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.
God will crush their teeth within their own mouth. The Lord will break the molars of the lions.
7 They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.
They will come to nothing, like water flowing away. He has aimed his bow, while they are being weakened.
8 As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have 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 pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
Before your thorns could know the brier, he consumes them alive, as if in rage.
10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.
The just one will rejoice when he sees vindication. He will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
11 And man saith: 'Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
And man will say, “If the just one is fruitful, then, truly, there is a God judging them on earth.”