Psalms 58

1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David. Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

2 No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.

2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,

4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

5 refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.

5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

6 O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.

6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.

7 May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.

7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

8 Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.

8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.

9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

10 The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.