For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David.

     1Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods?
            Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

     2No, in heart you work unrighteousness;
            On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.

     3The wicked are estranged from the womb;
            These who speak lies go astray from birth.

     4They have venom like the venom of a serpent;
            Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

     5So that it does not hear the voice of charmers,
            Or a skillful caster of spells.

     6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;
            Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.

     7Let them flow away like water that runs off;
            When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

     8Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along,
            Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.

     9Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns,
            He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

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

     11And men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
            Surely there is a God who judges on earth!”