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