For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David.

• ¹Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?
• Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?

• ²No, in your heart you plot injustice.
• You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.

• ³The wicked go astray from the womb.
• They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

• ⁴Their poison is like the poison of a snake;
• like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
• ⁵which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers,
• no matter how skillful the charmer may be.

• ⁶Break their teeth, God, in their mouth.
• Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.

• ⁷Let them vanish as water that flows away.
• When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.

• ⁸Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away,
• like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.

• ⁹Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns,
• he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.

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

• ¹¹so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous.
• Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”