Psalm 58In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12. 58

₁Do you rulers indeed speak justly?

Do you judge people with equity?

₂No, in your heart you devise injustice,

and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

₃Even from birth the wicked go astray;

from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

₄Their venom is like the venom of a snake,

like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

₅that will not heed the tune of the charmer,

however skilful the enchanter may be.

₆Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;

Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!

₇Let them vanish like water that flows away;

when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

₈May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,

like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

₉Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns –

whether they be green or dry – the wicked will be swept away.

₁₀The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,

when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.

₁₁Then people will say,

‘Surely the righteous still are rewarded;

surely there is a God who judges the earth.’