For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam. 1 Do ye indeed 2 in silence speak righteousness? Do ye 3 judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? 1) Or Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb? 2) Or as otherwise read O ye gods ; Or O ye mighty ones 3) Or judge uprightly the sons of men
2Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
5Which hearkeneth not to the voice of 1 charmers, Charming never so wisely. 1) Or enchanters
6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
7Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
8Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away, Like the untimely birth of a woman, 1 that hath not seen the sun. 1) Or, like them that have not seen the sun
9Before your pots can feel the thorns, 1 He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike. 1) Or Wrath shall take them away while living as with a whirlwind
10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11So that men shall say, Verily there is 1 a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. 1) Heb fruit