1. To the Chief Musician. Set to "Do Not Destroy." A Michtam of David. Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?

2. No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

3. The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

4. Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent; [They are] like the deaf cobra [that] stops its ear,

5. Which will not heed the voice of charmers, Charming ever so skillfully.

6. Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

7. Let them flow away as waters [which] run continually; [When] he bends [his bow,] Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.

8. [Let them be] like a snail which melts away as it goes, [Like] a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

9. Before your pots can feel [the burning] thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, As in His living and burning wrath.

10. The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

11. So that men will say, "Surely [there is] a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth."