PSALM 58 [†] Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? [2]

Do you judge the children of man uprightly?

2[^] No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

your hands  j deal out violence on earth.

3[†] The wicked are  k estranged from the womb;

they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

4  l They have venom like the venom of a serpent,

like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

5 so that it  m does not hear the voice of charmers

or of the cunning enchanter.

6[†] O God,  n break the teeth in their mouths;

tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

7 Let them  o vanish like water that runs away;

when he  p aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

8 Let them be like the snail  o that dissolves into slime,

like  q the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of  r thorns,

whether green or ablaze, may he  s sweep them away! [3]

10[†]  t The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

he will  u bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is  v a reward for the righteous;

surely there is a God who  w judges on earth.”

To the choirmaster: according to  x Do Not Destroy. A  y Miktam [1] of David,  z when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.