58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions?1
Do you judge people2 fairly?
58:2 No!3 You plan how to do what is unjust;4
you deal out violence in the earth.5
58:3 The wicked turn aside from birth;6
liars go astray as soon as they are born.7
58:4 Their venom is like that of a snake,8
like a deaf serpent9 that does not hear,10
58:5 that does not respond to11 the magicians,
or to a skilled snake-charmer.
58:6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths!
Smash the jawbones12 of the lions, O Lord!
58:7 Let them disappear13 like water that flows away!14
Let them wither like grass!15
58:8 Let them be16 like a snail that melts away as it moves along!17
Let them be like18 stillborn babies19 that never see the sun!
58:9 Before the kindling is even placed under your pots,20
he21 will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat.22
58:10 The godly23 will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
58:11 Then24 observers25 will say,
“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded!26
Yes indeed, there is a God who judges27 in the earth!”
Psalm 5928
For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style;29 a prayer30 of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him.31