1 To him that excelleth. Destroy not. A Psalme of David on Michtam. Is it true? O Congregation, speake ye iustly? O sonnes of men, iudge ye vprightly? 2 Yea, rather ye imagine mischiefe in your heart: your hands execute crueltie vpon the earth. 3 The wicked are strangers from ye wombe: euen from the belly haue they erred, and speake lyes. 4 Their poyson is euen like the poyson of a serpent: like ye deafe adder that stoppeth his eare. 5 Which heareth not the voyce of the inchanter, though he be most expert in charming. 6 Breake their teeth, O God, in their mouthes: breake the iawes of the yong lions, O Lord. 7 Let them melt like the waters, let them passe away: when hee shooteth his arrowes, let them be as broken. 8 Let them consume like a snayle that melteth, and like the vntimely fruite of a woman, that hath not seene the sunne. 9 As raw flesh before your pots feele the fire of thornes: so let him cary them away as with a whirlewinde in his wrath. 10 The righteous shall reioyce when he seeeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feete in the blood of the wicked. 11 And men shall say, Verily there is fruite for the righteous: doutlesse there is a God that iudgeth in the earth.
A Prayer for God to Punish the Wicked
1 Do you rulers ever give a just decision?
Do you judge everyone fairly?
2 No! You think only of the evil you can do,
and commit crimes of violence in the land.
3 Evildoers go wrong all their lives;
they tell lies from the day they are born.
4 They are full of poison like snakes;
they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,
5 which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer,
or the chant of the clever magician.
6 Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.
7 May they disappear like water draining away;
may they be crushed like weeds on a path.
8 May they be like snails that dissolve into slime;
may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.
9 Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds;
in his fierce anger God will blow them away
while they are still living.
10 The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished;
they will wade through the blood of the wicked.
11 People will say, “The righteous are indeed rewarded;
there is indeed a God who judges the world.”