1 T o the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?

Do you indeed in silence speak righteousness, O you mighty ones? Do you judge fairly and uprightly, O you sons of men?

2 E ven in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.

No, in your heart you devise wickedness; you deal out in the land the violence of your hands.

3 T he wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.

The ungodly are perverse and estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

4 T heir poison as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,

Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder or asp that stops its ear,

5 W hich hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.

Which listens not to the voice of charmers or of the enchanter never casting spells so cunningly.

6 O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

7 T hey are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.

Let them melt away as water which runs on apace; when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless or split apart.

8 A s a snail that melteth he goeth on, an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.

Let them be as a snail dissolving slime as it passes on or as a festering sore which wastes away, like a woman gives untimely birth that has not seen the sun.

9 B efore your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.

Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning ones alike.

10 T he righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 A nd man saith: `Surely fruit for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'

Men will say, Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God Who judges on the earth.