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For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David.

58 Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?
    Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
No, in your heart you plot injustice.
    You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
The wicked go astray from the womb.
    They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
Their poison is like the poison of a snake,
    like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
    which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers,
    no matter how skillful the charmer may be.
Break their teeth, God, in their mouth.
    Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
Let them vanish like water that flows away.
    When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away,
    like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns,
    he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
    He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous.
    Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

Psalm 58

To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” A record of memorable thoughts of David.

Do you indeed in silence speak righteousness, O you mighty ones? [Or is the righteousness, rightness, and justice you should speak quite dumb?] Do you judge fairly and uprightly, O you sons of men?

No, in your heart you devise wickedness; you deal out in the land the violence of your hands.

The ungodly are perverse and estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder or asp that stops its ear,

Which listens not to the voice of charmers or of the enchanter never casting spells so cunningly.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

Let them melt away as water which runs on apace; when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless or split apart.

Let them be as a snail dissolving slime as it passes on or as a festering sore which wastes away, like [the child to which] a woman gives untimely birth that has not seen the sun.

Before your pots can feel the thorns [that are placed under them for fuel], He will take them away as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.

10 The [unyieldingly] righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 Men will say, Surely there is a reward for the [uncompromisingly] righteous; surely there is a God Who judges on the earth.