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58 To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?

Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.

The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.

Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,

Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.

O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.

They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.

As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.

Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.

10 The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.

11 And man saith: `Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'

Psalm 58[a]

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

Do you rulers indeed speak justly?(A)
    Do you judge people with equity?
No, in your heart you devise injustice,(B)
    and your hands mete out violence on the earth.(C)

Even from birth the wicked go astray;
    from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
Their venom is like the venom of a snake,(D)
    like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
that will not heed(E) the tune of the charmer,(F)
    however skillful the enchanter may be.

Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;(G)
    Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!(H)
Let them vanish like water that flows away;(I)
    when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.(J)
May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,(K)
    like a stillborn child(L) that never sees the sun.

Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns(M)
    whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.[c](N)
10 The righteous will be glad(O) when they are avenged,(P)
    when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.(Q)
11 Then people will say,
    “Surely the righteous still are rewarded;(R)
    surely there is a God who judges the earth.”(S)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 58:1 In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12.
  2. Psalm 58:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
  3. Psalm 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.