1 Do ye, O congregation,
indeed speak righteousness?
O ye that are the sons of men,
judge ye with uprightness?
2 Yea, ev’n within your very hearts
ye wickedness have done;
And ye the vi’lence of your hands
do weigh the earth upon.
3 The wicked men estranged are,
ev’n from the very womb;
They, speaking lies, do stray as soon
as to the world they come.
4 Unto a serpent’s poison like
their poison doth appear;
Yea, they are like the adder deaf,
that closely stops her ear;
5 That so she may not hear the voice
of one that charm her would,
No, not though he most cunning were,
and charm most wisely could.
6 Their teeth, O God, within their mouth
break thou in pieces small;
The great teeth break thou out, O Lord,
of these young lions all.
7 Let them like waters melt away,
which downward still do flow:
In pieces cut his arrows all,
when he shall bend his bow.
8 Like to a snail that melts away,
let each of them be gone;
Like woman’s birth untimely, that
they never see the sun.
9 He shall them take away before
your pots the thorns can find,
Both living, and in fury great,
as with a stormy wind.
10 The righteous, when he vengeance sees,
he shall be joyful then;
The righteous one shall wash his feet
in blood of wicked men.
11 So men shall say, The righteous man
reward shall never miss:
And verily upon the earth
a God to judge there is.