NIV

Psalms 58

1<pb/><e>For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.</e><f>[104]</f> <pb/><t>Do you rulers indeed speak justly?</t> <t>Do you judge people with equity?</t>
2<t>No, in your heart you devise injustice,</t> <t>and your hands mete out violence on the earth. <pb/></t>
3<t>Even from birth the wicked go astray;</t> <t>from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.</t>
4<t>Their venom is like the venom of a snake,</t> <t>like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,</t>
5<t>that will not heed the tune of the charmer,</t> <t>however skillful the enchanter may be. <pb/></t>
6<t>Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;</t> <t>LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!</t>
7<t>Let them vanish like water that flows away;</t> <t>when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.</t>
8<t>May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,</t> <t>like a stillborn child that never sees the sun. <pb/></t>
9<t>Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—</t> <t>whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.<f>[105]</f></t>
10<t>The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,</t> <t>when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.</t>
11<t>Then people will say,</t> <t>“Surely the righteous still are rewarded;</t> <t>surely there is a God who judges the earth.”</t>