To the chief singer. ‘Do not destroy.’ A poem of Dawiḏ.
1 Would you indeed speak righteousness, in silence?
Do you judge straightly, you sons of men?
2 No, in heart you work unrighteousness;
On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked have been estranged from the womb;
These who speak lies go astray from birth.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake;
Like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 So as not to hear the voice of whisperers,
Or a skilled caster of spells.
6 O Elohim, break their teeth in their mouth!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄!
7 Let them melt, let them vanish as water;
Let Him aim His arrows that they be cut down;
8 Like a snail which melts away as it moves,
Like a woman’s stillbirth,
Let them not see the sun!
9 Before you feel your thorns or bramble,
He sweeps them away alive in wrath.
10 The righteous rejoices when he has seen the vengeance,
He washes his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11 And man says, “Truly, the righteous are rewarded;
Truly, there is an Elohim judging in the earth.”