Good News Translation GNT
New International Version NIV
1 Do you rulers ever give a just decision? Do you judge everyone fairly?
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Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity?
2 No! You think only of the evil you can do, and commit crimes of violence in the land.
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No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
3 Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.
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Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
4 They are full of poison like snakes; they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,
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Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
5 which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer, or the chant of the clever magician.
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that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.
6 Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.
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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 draining away; may they be crushed like weeds on a path.
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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; may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.
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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 Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds; in his fierce anger God will blow them away while they are still living.
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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 righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished; they will wade through 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 People will say, "The righteous are indeed rewarded; there is indeed a God who judges the world."
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Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
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.