[1] TO THE OVERSEER. “DO NOT DESTROY.” A MIKTAM OF DAVID. Is it true, O silent one, that you speak righteously? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? [2] Even in heart you work iniquities, || In the land you ponder the violence of your hands. [3] The wicked have been estranged from the womb, || They have erred from the belly, speaking lies. [4] Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, || As a deaf cobra shutting its ear, [5] Which does not listen to the voice of whisperers, || A charmer of most skillful charms. [6] O God, break their teeth in their mouth, || Break down the jaw-teeth of young lions, O YHWH. [7] They are melted as waters, || They go up and down for themselves, || His arrow proceeds as they cut themselves off. [8] He goes on as a snail that melts, || [As] an untimely birth of a woman, || They have not seen the sun. [9] Before your pots discern the bramble, || As living, He whirls away in His burning anger. [10] The righteous rejoices that he has seen vengeance, || He washes his steps in the blood of the wicked. [11] And man says: “Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!”
