Psalm 58

Psalm 58^a

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.^b

¹Do you rulers indeed speak justly?^c

Do you judge people with equity?

²No, in your heart you devise injustice,^d

and your hands mete out violence on the earth.^e

³Even from birth the wicked go astray;

from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

⁴Their venom is like the venom of a snake,^f

like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

⁵that will not heed^g the tune of the charmer,^h

however skillful the enchanter may be.

⁶Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;ⁱ

Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!^j

⁷Let them vanish like water that flows away;^k

when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.^l

⁸May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,^m

like a stillborn childⁿ that never sees the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns^o—

whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.^cp

¹⁰The righteous will be glad^q when they are avenged,^r

when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.^s

¹¹Then people will say,

“Surely the righteous still are rewarded;^t

surely there is a God who judges the earth.”^u