American Standard Version ASV
New International Version NIV
1 Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
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Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity?
2 Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
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No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
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Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [They are] like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
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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 hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, Charming never so wisely.
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that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
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Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!
7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
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Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
8 [Let them be] as a snail which melteth and passeth away, [Like] the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen 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 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
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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 shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his 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 So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.
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.