Psalms

The second book of Psalms, song 58, New English Translation and King James Version

Psalm 58

New English Translation

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David.

   1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? Do you judge people fairly?
   2 No! You plan how to do what is unjust; you deal out violence in the earth.
   3 The wicked turn aside from birth; liars go astray as soon as they are born.
   4 Their venom is like that of a snake, like a deaf serpent that does not hear,
   5 that does not respond to the magicians, or to a skilled snake-charmer.
   6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths! Smash the jawbones of the lions, O LORD!
   7 Let them disappear like water that flows away! Let them wither like grass!
   8 Let them be like a snail that melts away as it moves along! Let them be like stillborn babies that never see the sun!
   9 Before the kindling is even placed under your pots, he will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat.
   10 The godly will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
   11 Then observers will say, "Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded! Yes indeed, there is a God who judges in the earth!"

King James Version

To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.

   1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
   2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
   3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
   4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
   5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
   6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
   7 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.
   8 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.
   9 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.