תהילים נח

For the leader; al tashḥeth. Of David. A michtam.

O mighty ones, do you really decree what is just?
Do you judge humankind with equity?

In your minds you devise wrongdoing in the land;
with your hands you deal out lawlessness.

The wicked are defiant from birth;
the liars go astray from the womb.

Their venom is like that of a snake,
a deaf viper that stops its ears

so as not to hear the voice of charmers
or the expert mutterer of spells.

O God, smash their teeth in their mouth;
shatter the fangs of lions, O ETERNAL One;

let them melt, let them vanish like water—
aim Your arrows that they be cut down—

like a snail that melts away as it moves;
like a woman’s stillbirth—may they never see the sun!

Before the thorns grow into a bramble,
whirl them away alive in fury.

The righteous will rejoice when they see revenge;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

People will say,
“There is, then, a reward for the righteous;
there is, indeed, divine justice on earth.”