Psalm 58

English Standard Version

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David.

58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?^[b]
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
²No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands ^(C)deal out violence on earth.

³The wicked are ^(D)estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
⁴^(E)They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
    like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵so that it ^(F)does not hear the voice of charmers
    or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶O God, ^(G)break the teeth in their mouths;
    tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷Let them ^(H)vanish like water that runs away;
    when he ^(I)aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
⁸Let them be like the snail ^(J)that dissolves into slime,
    like ^(K)the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
⁹Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of ^(L)thorns,
    whether green or ablaze, may he ^(M)sweep them away!^[c]

¹⁰^(N)The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will ^(O)bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹Mankind will say, “Surely there is ^(P)a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who ^(Q)judges on earth.”