Psalm 58

God Who Judges the Earth

58To the choirmaster: according to ^hDo Not Destroy. A ⁱMiktam¹ of David.

¹Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?²

Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

²No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

your hands ^jdeal out violence on earth.

³The wicked are ^kestranged from the womb;

they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

^4lThey have venom like the venom of a serpent,

like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

⁵so that it ^mdoes not hear the voice of charmers

or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶O God, ⁿbreak the teeth in their mouths;

tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

⁷Let them ^ovanish like water that runs away;

when he ^paims his arrows, let them be blunted.

⁸Let them be like the snail ^othat dissolves into slime,

like ^qthe stillborn child who never sees the sun.

⁹Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of ^rthorns,

whether green or ablaze, may he ^ssweep them away!³

^10tThe righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

he will ^ubathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹Mankind will say, “Surely there is ^va reward for the righteous;

surely there is a God who ^wjudges on earth.”