1To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam. Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men?
2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;
5Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.
6O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted:
8Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun.
9Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning, — they shall be whirled away.
10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked:
11And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.