Psalm 58

God Who Judges the Earth

1. To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam[a] of David. 1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?[b] 1 Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

2. No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; 2 your hands deal out violence on earth.

3. The wicked are estranged from the womb; 3 they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

4. They have venom like the venom of a serpent, 4 like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

5. so that it does not hear the voice of charmers 5 or of the cunning enchanter.

6. O God, break the teeth in their mouths; 6 tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

7. Let them vanish like water that runs away; 7 when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

8. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, 8 like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

9. Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, 9 whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away![c]

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

11. Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; 11 surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Footnotes:
a. Psalm 58:1: Probably a musical or liturgical term
b. Psalm 58:1: Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
c. Psalm 58:9: The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain