1[For the choir director; [al tashcheth]; a [miktam] by David.] Do you rulers really give fair verdicts? Do you judge Adam's descendants fairly?

2No, you invent new crimes on earth, and your hands spread violence.

3[Even] inside the womb wicked people are strangers [to God]. From their birth liars go astray.

4They have poisonous venom like snakes. They are like a deaf cobra that shuts its ears

5so that it cannot hear the voice of a snake charmer or of anyone trained to cast spells.

6O God, knock the teeth out of their mouths. Break the young lions' teeth, O LORD.

7Let them disappear like water that drains away. When they aim their bows, let their arrows miss the target.

8Let them become like a snail that leaves behind a slimy trail or like a stillborn child who never sees the sun.

9Let [God] sweep them away faster than a cooking pot is heated by burning twigs.

10Righteous people will rejoice when they see [God] take revenge. They will wash their feet in the blood of wicked people.

11Then people will say, "Righteous people certainly have a reward. There is a God who judges on earth."