To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.

1Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?

Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

2Yea, in heart ye work wickedness;

Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

3The wicked are estranged from the womb:

They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:

They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

5Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,

Charming never so wisely.

6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.

7Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

8As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: Like the untimely birth of a woman,

That they may not see the sun.

9Before your pots can feel the thorns,

He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

10The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:

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

11So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:

Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.