58:1 *[For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.**] Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity? / *In Hebrew texts 58:1-11 is numbered 58:2-12. / **Title: Probably a literary or musical term
58:2 No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
58:3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
58:4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
58:5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.
58:6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!
58:7 Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
58:8 May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
58:9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns - whether they be green or dry - the wicked will be swept away.* / *The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
58:10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
58:11 Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”