Psalm 58

New Coverdale Version

Do you indeed decree righteousness, O you rulers, * and do you judge uprightly, O children of men?

No, you devise evil in your heart, * and on the earth your hands deal out violence.

The ungodly err even from their mother’s womb; * as soon as they are born, they go astray and speak lies.

They are as venomous as the poison of a serpent, * even like the deaf adder that stops its ears,

Which refuses to hear the voice of the charmer, * no matter how skillful his charming.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; * smite the jawbones of the ungodly.

Let them fall away like water that runs off; * let them wither like the grass that is trodden underfoot.

Let them melt away like a snail, * and be like a stillborn child that does not see the sun.

Before they bear fruit, let them be cut off like a briar; * let them be like thorns and weeds that are swept away.

The righteous shall rejoice when they see the vengeance; * they shall wash their feet in the blood of the ungodly.

So that people shall say, “Truly, there is a reward for the righteous; * surely, there is a God who judges the earth.”

© Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.