Psalm 58

¹  Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?
    Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
² No, in your heart you plot injustice.
    You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
³ The wicked go astray from the womb.
    They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
⁴ Their poison is like the poison of a snake,
    like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
⁵     which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers,
    no matter how skillful the charmer may be.
⁶ Break their teeth, God, in their mouth.
    Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
⁷ Let them vanish like water that flows away.
    When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
⁸ Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away,
    like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
⁹ Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns,
    he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
¹⁰ The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
    He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
¹¹ so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous.
    Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

Psalm 57   ■   Psalm 59