1TO THE OVERSEER. “DO NOT DESTROY.” A MIKTAM OF DAVID. Is it true, O silent one, that you speak righteously? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?
2Even in heart you work iniquities, || In the land you ponder the violence of your hands.
3The wicked have been estranged from the womb, || They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
4Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, || As a deaf cobra shutting its ear,
5Which does not listen to the voice of whisperers, || A charmer of most skillful charms.
6O God, break their teeth in their mouth, || Break down the jaw-teeth of young lions, O YHWH.
7They are melted as waters, || They go up and down for themselves, || His arrow proceeds as they cut themselves off.
8He goes on as a snail that melts, || [As] an untimely birth of a woman, || They have not seen the sun.
9Before your pots discern the bramble, || As living, He whirls away in His burning anger.
10The righteous rejoices that he has seen vengeance, || He washes his steps in the blood of the wicked.
11And man says: “Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!”