Psalm 58
New American Standard Bible
Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked.
For the music director; set to [a]Al-tashheth. A [b]Mikhtam of David.
58 Do you indeed [c]speak righteousness, you [d]gods?
Do you (A)judge [e]fairly, you sons of mankind?
2 No, in heart you (B)practice injustice;
On earth you (C)clear a way for the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked have turned away (D)from the womb;
These who speak lies (E)go astray from [f]birth.
4 They have venom like the (F)venom of a serpent;
Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
5 So that it (G)does not hear the voice of [g](H)charmers,
Or a skillful caster of spells.
6 God, (I)shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, Lord.
7 May they (J)flow away like water that runs off;
When he [h](K)aims his arrows, may they be as [i]headless shafts.
8 May they be like a snail which goes along in slime,
Like the (L)miscarriage of a woman that never sees the sun.
9 Before your (M)pots can feel the fire of thorns
He will (N)sweep them away with a whirlwind, the [j]green and the burning alike.
10 The (O)righteous will rejoice when he (P)sees vengeance;
He will (Q)wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And people will say, “There certainly is [k](R)a reward for the righteous;
There certainly is a God who (S)judges on the earth!”
Footnotes
- Psalm 58 Title Lit Do Not Destroy
- Psalm 58 Title Possibly Epigrammatic Poem or Atonement Psalm
- Psalm 58:1 Another reading is speak righteousness in silence
- Psalm 58:1 Or mighty ones; or judges
- Psalm 58:1 Or mankind fairly?
- Psalm 58:3 Lit the womb
- Psalm 58:5 Or whisperers
- Psalm 58:7 Lit bends
- Psalm 58:7 Lit though they were cut off
- Psalm 58:9 Lit living
- Psalm 58:11 Lit fruit
Psalm 58
King James Version
58 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
