For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam.

1 Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

2 Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye 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 adder that stoppeth her ear,

5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, Charming never so wisely.

6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.

8 Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away, Like the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;

11 So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.