New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
1 Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly?
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Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity?
2 No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land.
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No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
3 These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.
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Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
4 They spit venom like deadly snakes; they are like cobras that refuse to listen,
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Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
5 ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play.
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that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.
6 Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions, O LORD !
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Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!
7 May they disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands.
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Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
8 May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
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May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
9 God will sweep them away, both young and old, faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.
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Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns— whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.
10 The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
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The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then at last everyone will say, “There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”
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Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”
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Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.