58 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.

Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.

58 (0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, a mikhtam:

(1) [Rulers,] does your silence really speak justice?
Are you judging people fairly?
(2) [No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs,
your hands dispense violence in the land.

(3) From the womb, the wicked are estranged,
liars on the wrong path since birth.
(4) Their venom is like snake’s venom;
they are like a serpent that stops its ears,
(5) so as not to hear the voice of the charmer,
no matter how well he plays.

(6) God, break their teeth in their mouth!
Shatter the fangs of these lions, Adonai!
(7) May they vanish like water that drains away.
May their arrows be blunted when they aim their bows.
(8) May they be like a slug that melts as it moves,
like a stillborn baby that never sees the sun.
10 (9) Before your cook-pots feel the heat of the burning thorns,
may he blow them away, green and blazing alike.

11 (10) The righteous will rejoice to see vengeance done,
they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked;
12 (11) and people will say, “Yes, the righteous are rewarded;
there is, after all, a God who judges the earth.”