1For the leader. Set to "Do Not Destroy." By David, a mikhtam: [Rulers,] does your silence really speak justice? Are you judging people fairly?
2[No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs, your hands dispense violence in the land.
3From the womb, the wicked are estranged, liars on the wrong path since birth.
4Their venom is like snake's venom; they are like a serpent that stops its ears,
5so as not to hear the voice of the charmer, no matter how well he plays.
6God, break their teeth in their mouth! Shatter the fangs of these lions, ADONAI!
7May they vanish like water that drains away. May their arrows be blunted when they aim their bows.
8May they be like a slug that melts as it moves, like a stillborn baby that never sees the sun.
9Before your cook-pots feel the heat of the burning thorns, may he blow them away, green and blazing alike.
10The righteous will rejoice to see vengeance done, they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked;
11and people will say, "Yes, the righteous are rewarded; there is, after all, a God who judges the earth."