Psalm 58 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

Psalm 58 Prayer for Vengeance

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

¹ Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge people fairly?

² No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.

³ The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.

⁴ They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

⁵ so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

⁷ Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.

⁸ Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.

⁹ Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹ People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”