Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked.
For the choir director; set to [a]Al-tashheth. A [b]Mikhtam of David.
1Do you indeed [c]speak righteousness, O [d]gods?
Do you judge [e]uprightly, O sons of men?
2 No, in heart you work unrighteousness;
On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These who speak lies go astray from [f]birth.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent;
Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
5 So that it does not hear the voice of [g]charmers,
Or a skillful caster of spells.
6 O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them flow away like water that runs off;
When he [h]aims his arrows, let them be as [i]headless shafts.
8 Let them be as a snail which [j]melts away as it goes along,
Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns
He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the [k]green and the burning alike.