1(58-1) For the Leader; Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David; Michtam. (58-2) Do ye indeed speak as a righteous company? Do ye judge with equity the sons of men?

2(58-3) Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out in the earth the violence of your hands.

3(58-4) The wicked are estranged from the womb; the speakers of lies go astray as soon as they are born.

4(58-5) Their venom is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ear;

5(58-6) Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, or of the most cunning binder of spells.

6(58-7) Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the cheek-teeth of the young lions, O LORD.

7(58-8) Let them melt away as water that runneth apace; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

8(58-9) Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away; like the untimely births of a woman, that have not seen the sun.

9(58-10) Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will sweep it away with a whirlwind, the raw and the burning alike.

10(58-11) The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11(58-12) And men shall say: 'Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.'