1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be.
6 Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
7 Let them vanish like water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
11 so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
Study Psalm 58
Read the complete chapter before isolating one sentence, and note the reference and edition beside anything you quote. Then take a focused next step: a passage-note method or a memory practice method .
Edition and source notes
This is the World English Bible, a public-domain translation, in its own numbering: 11 verses of Psalm 58, with punctuation and line breaks as published. Source notes are labelled separately; the publisher’s headings and cross references are not part of the text. WEB edition notes.
Read Psalm 58 in the King James Version or the Berean Standard Bible .
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