Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked.

For the choir director; set to [a]Al-tashheth. A [b]Mikhtam of David.

58 Do you indeed [c]speak righteousness, O [d]gods?
Do you (A)judge [e]uprightly, O sons of men?
No, in heart you (B)work unrighteousness;
On earth you (C)weigh out the violence of your hands.
The wicked are estranged (D)from the womb;
These who speak lies (E)go astray from [f]birth.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 58:1 Lit Do Not Destroy
  2. Psalm 58:1 Possibly Epigrammatic Poem or Atonement Psalm
  3. Psalm 58:1 Another reading is speak righteousness in silence
  4. Psalm 58:1 Or mighty ones or judges
  5. Psalm 58:1 Or uprightly the sons of men
  6. Psalm 58:3 Lit the womb

Psalm 58[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.[b]

Do you rulers indeed speak justly?(A)
    Do you judge people with equity?
No, in your heart you devise injustice,(B)
    and your hands mete out violence on the earth.(C)

Even from birth the wicked go astray;
    from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 58:1 In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12.
  2. Psalm 58:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term