God Who Judges the Earth
To the choirmaster: according to See Ps. 57, titleDo Not Destroy. A See Ps. 16, titleMiktam58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term of David.
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?58:1 Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands [Ps. 94:20]deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are Ps. 51:5;Isa. 48:8estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 Ps. 140:3;[Deut. 32:33]They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it Jer. 8:17does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, Ps. 3:7;Job 4:10;29:17break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7 Let them Ps. 112:10;Josh. 7:5vanish like water that runs away;
when he Ps. 64:3aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8 Let them be like the snail [See ver. 7above] that dissolves into slime,
like See Job 3:16the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of Ps. 118:12;Eccles. 7:6thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he [Job 27:21;See Prov. 10:25]sweep them away!58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
10 Deut. 32:43;See Job 22:19The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will Ps. 68:23bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, "Surely there is Isa. 3:10a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who Ps. 67:4;94:2;Gen. 18:25;Job 19:29;Eccles. 12:14judges on earth."