For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David.

1Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods?
         Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

2No, in heart you work unrighteousness;
         On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.

3The wicked are estranged from the womb;
         These who speak lies go astray from birth.

4They have venom like the venom of a serpent;
         Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

5So that it does not hear the voice of charmers,
         Or a skillful caster of spells.

6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;
         Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.

7Let them flow away like water that runs off;
         When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

8Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along,
         Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.

9Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns
         He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

10The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
         He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11And men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
         Surely there is a God who judges on earth!”

NASB ©1995