1Do you rulers indeed speak justly?

Do you judge people with equity?

2No, in your heart you devise injustice,

and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

3Even from birth the wicked go astray;

from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

4Their venom is like the venom of a snake,

like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

5that will not heed the tune of the charmer,

however skillful the enchanter may be.

6Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;

Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!

7Let them vanish like water that flows away;

when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

8May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,

like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—

whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away. ^c

10The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,

when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11Then people will say,

“Surely the righteous still are rewarded;

surely there is a God who judges the earth.”