58
Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked.
For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David.
Do you indeed 1speak righteousness, O 2gods?
Do you Ajudge 3uprightly, O sons of men?
No, in heart you Awork unrighteousness;
On earth you Bweigh out the violence of your hands.
The wicked are estranged Afrom the womb;
These who speak lies Bgo astray from 1birth.
They have venom like the Avenom of a serpent;
Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
So that it Adoes not hear the voice of 1Bcharmers,
Or a skillful caster of spells.
O God, Ashatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
Let them Aflow away like water that runs off;
When he 1Baims his arrows, let them be as 2headless shafts.
Let them be as a snail which 1melts away as it goes along,
Like the Amiscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.
Before your Apots can feel the fire of thorns
He will Bsweep them away with a whirlwind, the 1green and the burning alike.
10 The Arighteous will rejoice when he Bsees the vengeance;
He will Cwash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And men will say, “Surely there is a 1Areward for the righteous;
Surely there is a God who Bjudges 2on earth!”
58: Lit Do Not Destroy 58: Possibly Epigrammatic Poem or Atonement Psalm 1 58:1 Another reading is speak righteousness in silence 2 58:1 Or mighty ones or judges A 58:1 Ps 82:2 3 58:1 Or uprightly the sons of men A 58:2 Mal 3:15 B 58:2 Ps 94:20; Is 10:1 A 58:3 Ps 51:5; Is 48:8 B 58:3 Ps 53:3 1 58:3 Lit the womb A 58:4 Deut 32:33; Ps 140:3 A 58:5 Jer 8:17 1 58:5 Or whisperers B 58:5 Eccl 10:11 A 58:6 Job 4:10; Ps 3:7 A 58:7 Josh 2:11; 7:5; Ps 112:10; Is 13:7; Ezek 21:7 1 58:7 Lit bends B 58:7 Ps 64:3 2 58:7 Lit though they were cut off 1 58:8 I.e. secretes slime A 58:8 Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3 A 58:9 Ps 118:12; Eccl 7:6 B 58:9 Job 27:21; Ps 83:15; Prov 10:25 1 58:9 Lit living A 58:10 Job 22:19; Ps 32:11; 64:10; 107:42 B 58:10 Deut 32:43; Ps 91:8; Jer 11:20; 20:12 C 58:10 Ps 68:23 1 58:11 Lit fruit A 58:11 Ps 18:20; 19:11; Is 3:10; Luke 6:23, 35 B 58:11 Ps 9:8; 67:4; 75:7; 94:2 2 58:11 Or in