1
Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2
No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands
1deal out violence on earth.
3
The wicked are
2estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4
3They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5
so that it
4does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6
O God,
5break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7
Let them
6vanish like water that runs away; when he
7aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8
Let them be like the snail
8that dissolves into slime, like
9the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9
Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of
10thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he
11sweep them away!
10
12The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will
13bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11
Mankind will say, "Surely there is
14a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who
15judges on earth."