< 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?
For the Chief Musician; [set to] Al-tashheth. [A Psalm] of David: Michtam. Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.
Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7 They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.
Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
8 As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.
[Let them be] as a snail which melteth and passeth away: [like] the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And man saith: 'Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.