Psalms 58

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to a Do Not Destroy. A b Miktam
Probably a musical or liturgical term
of David.

Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Or  you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)

Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands e deal out violence on earth.
The wicked are f estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
g They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
so that it h does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.
O God, i break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O  Lord!
Let them j vanish like water that runs away;
when he k aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
Let them be like the snail l that dissolves into slime,
like m the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of n thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he o sweep them away!
The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain

10  q The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will r bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is s a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who t judges on earth.”
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