Revised Standard Version RSV
Good News Translation GNT
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?
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Do you rulers ever give a just decision? Do you judge everyone fairly?
2 Nay, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
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No! You think only of the evil you can do, and commit crimes of violence in the land.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.
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Evildoers go wrong all their lives; they tell lies from the day they are born.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
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They are full of poison like snakes; they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
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which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer, or the chant of the clever magician.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
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Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
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May they disappear like water draining away; may they be crushed like weeds on a path.
8 Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
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May they be like snails that dissolve into slime; may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
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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 righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
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The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished; they will wade through the blood of the wicked.
11 Men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."
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People will say, "The righteous are indeed rewarded; there is indeed a God who judges the world."
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.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.