Psalm 58

For the choir director. Al-tashheth. Of David. A Mikhtam.

Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods?

Do you judge with equity, O sons of men?

No, in heart you work unrighteousness;

On earth you prepare a path for the violence of your hands.

The wicked are estranged from the womb;

These who speak falsehood wander in error from birth.

They have venom like the venom of a serpent;

Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

So that it does not hear the voice of charmers,

Or a skillful caster of spells.

O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;

Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.

Let them flow away like water that runs off;

When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along,

Like the miscarriages of a woman which never behold the sun.

Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns

He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the living and the burning alike.

The righteous will be glad when he beholds the vengeance;

He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

And men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

Surely there is a God who judges on earth!”