The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 <To the chief music-maker; put to Al-tashheth. Michtam. Of David.> Is there righteousness in your mouths, O you gods? are you upright judges, O you sons of men?
1
Do you rulers ever give a just decision? Do you judge everyone fairly?
2 The purposes of your hearts are evil; your hands are full of cruel doings on the earth.
2
No! You think only of the evil you can do, and commit crimes of violence in the land.
3 The evil-doers are strange from the first; from the hour of their birth they go out of the true way, saying false words.
3
Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; they are like the adder, whose ears are shut;
4
They are full of poison like snakes; they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,
5 Who will not be moved by the voice of the wonder-worker, however great are his powers.
5
which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer, or the chant of the clever magician.
6 O God, let their teeth be broken in their mouths; let the great teeth of the young lions be pulled out, O Lord.
6
Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.
7 Let them be turned to liquid like the ever-flowing waters; let them be cut off like the grass by the way.
7
May they disappear like water draining away; may they be crushed like weeds on a path.
8 Let them be like an after-birth which is turned to water and comes to an end; like the fruit of a woman who gives birth before her time, let them not see the sun.
8
May they be like snails that dissolve into slime; may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.
9 Before they are conscious of it, let them be cut down like thorns; let a strong wind take them away like waste growth.
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.
10 The upright man will be glad when he sees their punishment; his feet will be washed in the blood of the evil-doer.
10
The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished; they will wade through the blood of the wicked.
11 So that men will say, Truly there is a reward for righteousness; truly there is a God who is judge on the earth.
11
People will say, "The righteous are indeed rewarded; there is indeed a God who judges the world."
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.