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Psalm 58

Prayer for Vengeance

To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam.
¹ Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?^*
   Do you judge people fairly?
² No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
   your hands deal out violence on earth.

³ The wicked go astray from the womb;
   they err from their birth, speaking lies.
⁴ They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
   like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵ so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
   or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
   tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that runs away;
   like grass let them be trodden down^* and wither.
⁸ Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;
   like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
⁹ Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
   whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
   they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ People will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
   surely there is a God who judges on earth.’