Psalm

The Just Judgment of the Wicked

To the Chief Musician. Set to [a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.

58 
Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?

Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?

No, in heart you work wickedness;

You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

The wicked are estranged from the womb;

They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;

They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,

Which will not heed the voice of charmers,

Charming ever so skillfully.

Break[b] their teeth in their mouth, O God!

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

Let them flow away as waters which run continually;

When he bends his bow,

Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.

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

Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,

He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,

As in His living and burning wrath.

10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

11 So that men will say,

“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 58:1 Heb. Al Tashcheth
  2. Psalm 58:6 Break away