Psaume 58

A God who judges the earth

¹For the music director. To the tune “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam. ²You gods, do you really speak what is right? \q Do you judge human beings fairly?^{a 3}No, in your hearts you plan wrong, \q and on earth your hands deal out violence by weight. ⁴From the womb the wicked have turned aside; \q from birth those who tell lies have wandered off. ⁵Their poison is like a snake’s poison, \q like a cobra that is deaf and stops up its ear, ⁶so that it does not hear the voice of the charmers, \q however skilled the one who weaves the spell. ⁷God, smash the teeth in their mouths; \q LORD, rip out the young lions’ fangs! ⁸Let them drain away like water running off; \q when they take aim with their arrows, let the shafts be snapped. ⁹May they be like a snail that turns to slime as it moves, \q like a baby born dead, who has not looked on the sun. ¹⁰Sooner than your pots can sense the thorn fire, \q green or blazing, he will sweep it all away in a storm.^{b 11}The righteous will be glad when they see justice repaid; \q they will bathe their feet in the wicked’s blood. ¹²Then people will say, “Yes, the righteous do receive a reward; \q yes, a God does judge on the earth.”