To the Chief Musician.
Set to "Do Not Destroy."
A Michtam of David.
1
Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
2
No, in heart you work wickedness;
you weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3
The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray as soon as they are born speaking lies.
4
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
they are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5
which will not heed the voice of charmers,
charming ever so skillfully.
6
Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7
Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
when he bends his bow, let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
8
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.
9
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 here is a reward for the righteous;
surely he is God who judges in the earth."