Psalm 58
Prayer for Vengeance
To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam.
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge people fairly?(A)
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.(B)
3 The wicked go astray from the womb;
they err from their birth, speaking lies.(C)
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,(D)
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.(E)
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!(F)
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
like grass let them be trodden down and wither.(G)
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.(H)
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!(I)
10 The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.(J)
11 People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”(K)
Footnotes
- 58.7
- 58.11
Cross references
- 58.1 : Ps 82.2
- 58.2 : Ps 94.20; Mal 3.15
- 58.3 : Ps 51.5; 53.3; Isa 48.8
- 58.4 : Ps 140.3; Eccl 10.11
- 58.5 : Ps 81.11
- 58.6 : Job 4.10; Ps 3.7
- 58.7 : Josh 7.5; Ps 64.3; 112.10
- 58.8 : Job 3.16
- 58.9 : Ps 118.12; Prov 10.25
- 58.10 : Ps 64.10; 68.23; 91.8
- 58.11 : Ps 9.8; 18.20
