LVIII PRAYER FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED
For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam.
［1］ DO〖Or, Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb?〗 ye indeed in〖Or, as otherwise read, O ye gods. Or, O ye mighty ones.〗 silence speak righteousness?
Do ye judge〖Or, judge uprightly the sons of men.〗 uprightly, O ye sons of men?
［2］ Nay, in heart ye work wickedness;
Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
［3］ The wicked are estranged from the womb:
They go astray as soon as they are 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 hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers,〖Or, enchanters.〗
Charming never so wisely.
［6］ Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
［7］ Let them melt away as water that runneth apace:
When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
［8］ Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away,
Like the untimely birth of a woman, that〖Or, like them that have not seen the sun.〗 hath not seen the sun.
［9］ Before your pots can feel the thorns,
He〖Or, Wrath shall take them away while living as with a whirlwind.〗 will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
［10］ The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
［11］ So that men shall say, Verily there is a〖Heb. fruit.〗 reward for the righteous:
Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.