58: 1 Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked. For the Chief Musician; set to Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam. ³³⁵Do ye indeed ³³⁶in silence speak righteousness? Do ye ³³⁷judge uprightly, O ye sons of Adam?
³³⁵Or, Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb
³³⁶Hb^mg reads O ye gods or, O ye mighty ones
³³⁷Or, judge uprightly the sons of men

58: 2 No, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
58: 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
58: 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear,
58: 5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of ³³⁸charmers, Charming never so wisely.
³³⁸Or, enchanters,

58: 6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
58: 7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.
58: 8 Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away, Like the untimely birth of a woman, ³³⁹that hath not seen the sun.
³³⁹Or, like them that have not seen the sun.

58: 9 Before your pots can feel a thorn, ³⁴⁰He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
³⁴⁰Or, Wrath shall take them away while living as with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

58: 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
58: 11 So that men shall say, Truly there is ³⁴¹a reward for the righteous: Truly there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
³⁴¹Hb. fruit