1 For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David. 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.⁠a 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.⁠b 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.⁠c 11 Then observers will say, “Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded. Yes indeed, there is a God who judges in the earth.”