To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.

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

2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they be 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 will not hearken 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 LORD.

7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: Like the untimely birth of a woman, That they may not see the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

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

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