Chapter 58 - Reproof of wicked judges

1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence (of your hands) in the earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be 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 will not hearken to the voice (of charmers) charming never so wisely.

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

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

8 [As] 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.

9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away [as] with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood (of the wicked).

11 So that a man shall say,

Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.

Chapter 59