To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David
1
Do ye, indeed, speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
5
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth 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.
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.
9
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath.
10
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he will wash 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.