Psalm 58

Psalm 58

For the choir director; al tashcheth; a miktam by David. 

¹Do you rulers really give fair verdicts? 

Do you judge Adam’s descendants fairly? 

²No, you invent new crimes on earth, 

and your hands spread violence. 

³⸤Even⸥ inside the womb wicked people are strangers ⸤to God⸥. 

From their birth liars go astray. 

⁴They have poisonous venom like snakes. 

They are like a deaf cobra that shuts its ears 

⁵so that it cannot hear the voice of a snake charmer 

or of anyone trained to cast spells. 

⁶O God, knock the teeth out of their mouths. 

Break the young lions’ teeth, O Lord. 

⁷Let them disappear like water that drains away. 

When they aim their bows, let their arrows miss the target. 

⁸Let them become like a snail that leaves behind a slimy trail 

or like a stillborn child who never sees the sun. 

⁹Let ⸤God⸥ sweep them away 

faster than a cooking pot is heated by burning twigs. 

¹⁰Righteous people will rejoice when they see ⸤God⸥ take revenge. 

They will wash their feet in the blood of wicked people. 

¹¹Then people will say, 

“Righteous people certainly have a reward. 

There is a God who judges on earth.”