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Psalm 58

For the music leader. Do not destroy. A psalm of David, a miktam.[a]

58 Do you really speak what is right, you gods?
    Do you really judge humans fairly?
No: in your hearts you plan injustice;
    your hands do violence on the earth.

The wicked backslide from the womb;
    liars go astray from birth.
Their venom is like a snake’s venom—
    like a deaf cobra’s—one that shuts its ears
        so it can’t hear the snake charmer’s voice
        or the spells of a skillful enchanter.

God, break their teeth out of their mouths!
    Tear out the lions’ jawbones, Lord!
Let them dissolve like water flowing away.
    When they bend the bow,
    let their arrows be like headless shafts.[b]
Like the snail that dissolves into slime,
    like a woman’s stillborn child,
    let them never see the sun.
Before your pots feel the thorns,
    whether green or burned up,
    God will sweep them away![c]

10 But the righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done,
    when they wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then it will be said:
“Yes, there is a reward for the righteous!
    Yes, there is a God who judges people on the earth.”

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 58:1 Perhaps inscription
  2. Psalm 58:7 Heb uncertain
  3. Psalm 58:9 Heb uncertain

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