LVIII. Book II. Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked. 1909-14. The Book of Psalms. The Harvard Classics

The Book of Psalms.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

Book II

LVIII

Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked

For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam.


[1]	DO 1 ye indeed in 2 silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge 3 uprightly, O ye sons of men?
[2]	Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
[3]	The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are 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 hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, 4 Charming never so wisely.
[6]	Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
[7]	Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
[8]	Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away, Like the untimely birth of a woman, that 5 hath not seen the sun.
[9]	Before your pots can feel the thorns, He 6 will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
[10]	So that men shall say, Verily there is a 7 reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.

Note 1. Or, Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb? [back]

Note 2. Or, as otherwise read, O ye gods.Or, O ye mighty ones. [back]

Note 3. Or, judge uprightly the sons of men. [back]

Note 4. Or, enchanters. [back]

Note 5. Or, like them that have not seen the sun. [back]

Note 6. Or, Wrath shall take them away while living as with a whirlwind. [back]

Note 7. Heb. fruit. [back]