Prayer for Vengeance

To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam.

1Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?58.1 Or mighty lords

Do you judge people fairly?

2No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

your hands deal out violence on earth.

3The wicked go astray from the womb;

they err from their birth, speaking lies.

4They have venom like the venom of a serpent,

like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

5so that it does not hear the voice of charmers

or of the cunning enchanter.

6O God, break the teeth in their mouths;

tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

7Let them vanish like water that runs away;

like grass let them be trodden down58.7 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain and wither.

8Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;

like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.

9Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,

whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;

they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11People will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

surely there is a God who judges on earth.’