To the chief Musician,
Altaschith,
Michtam
of David.
Do ye indeed
speak
righteousness,
O congregation?
do ye judge
uprightly,
O ye sons
of men?
Yea, in heart
ye work
wickedness;
ye weigh
the violence
of your hands
in the earth.
The wicked
are estranged
from the womb:
they go astray
as soon as they be born,
speaking
lies.
Their poison
is like
the poison
of a serpent:
they are like the deaf
adder
that stoppeth
her ear;
Which will not hearken
to the voice
of charmers,
charming
never so wisely.
Break
their teeth,
O God,
in their mouth:
break out
the great teeth
of the young lions,
O LORD.
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.
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.
Before your pots
can feel
the thorns,
he shall take them away as with a whirlwind,
both living,
and in his wrath.
The righteous
shall rejoice
when he seeth
the vengeance:
he shall wash
his feet
in the blood
of the wicked.
So that a man
shall say,
Verily there is a reward
for the righteous:
verily he is
a God
that judgeth
in the earth.
