There Is a God Who Judges on Earth

¹Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods?[#58:1 Or speak righteousness in silence; #58:1 Or mighty ones , judges]

Do you judge with equity, O sons of men?

²No, in heart you work unrighteousness;

On earth you prepare a path for the violence of your hands.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb;

These who speak falsehood wander in error from birth.

⁴They have venom like the venom of a serpent;

Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

⁵So that it does not hear the voice of charmers,[#58:5 Or whisperers]

Or a skillful caster of spells.

⁶¶O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;

Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.

⁷Let them flow away like water that runs off;

When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.

⁸Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along,[#58:8 Secretes slime]

Like the miscarriages of a woman which never behold the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns

He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the living and the burning alike.

¹⁰¶The righteous will be glad when he beholds the vengeance;

He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹And men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;[#58:11 Lit fruit]

Surely there is a God who judges on earth!”