King James Version KJV
Revised Standard Version RSV
1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
1
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David. Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the sons of men uprightly?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
2
Nay, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
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The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking 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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They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
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so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
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O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
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Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
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Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
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Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them 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 rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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Men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.