Psalm 58

A Prayer for God to Punish the Wicked#HEBREW TITLE: A psalm by David.

1 Do you rulers*58.1: rulers; or gods. ever give a just decision?

Do you judge everyone fairly?

2 No! You think only of the evil you can do,

and commit crimes of violence in the land.

3 Evildoers go wrong all their lives;

they tell lies from the day they are born.

4 They are full of poison like snakes;

they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,

5 which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer,

or the chant of the clever magician.

6 Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.

7 May they disappear like water draining away;

may they be crushed like weeds on a path.*58.7: Probable text may … path; Hebrew unclear.

8 May they be like snails that dissolve into slime;

may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.

9 Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds;

in his fierce anger God will blow them away

while they are still living.*58.9: Verse 9 in Hebrew is unclear.

10 The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished;

they will wade through the blood of the wicked.

11 People will say, "The righteous are indeed rewarded;

there is indeed a God who judges the world."