[1] Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? Do you judge people fairly? [2] No! You plan how to do what is unjust; you deal out violence in the earth. [3] The wicked turn aside from birth; liars go astray as soon as they are born. [4] Their venom is like that of a snake, like a deaf serpent that does not hear, [5] that does not respond to the magicians, or to a skilled snake charmer. [6] O God, break the teeth in their mouths! Smash the jawbones of the lions, O LORD. [7] Let them disappear like water that flows away. Let them wither like grass. [8] Let them be like a snail that melts away as it moves along. Let them be like stillborn babies that never see the sun. [9] Before the kindling is even placed under your pots, he will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat. [10] The godly will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. [11] Then observers will say, "Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded. Yes indeed, there is a God who judges in the earth."
