The Psalms

Psalm 58

For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam.

 58:1Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness?

 Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

 58:2Nay, in heart ye work wickedness;

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

 58:3The wicked are estranged from the womb:

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

 58:4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:

 They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,

 58:5Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers,

 Charming never so wisely.

 58:6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:

 Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

 58:7Let them melt away as water that runneth apace:

 When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

 58:8Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away,

 Like the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.

 58:9Before your pots can feel the thorns,

 He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

 58:10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:

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

 58:11So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:

 Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.