There Is a God Who Judges on Earth

For the choir director. [†]Al-tashheth. Of David. A [†]Mikhtam.

1Do you indeed [†]speak righteousness, O [†]gods?

Do you judge [†]with equity, O sons of men?

2No, in heart you work unrighteousness;

On earth you [†]prepare a path for the violence of your hands.

3The wicked are estranged from the womb;

These who speak falsehood wander in error from [†]birth.

4They have venom like the venom of a serpent;

Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,

5So that it does not hear the voice of [†]charmers,

Or a skillful caster of spells.

6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth;

Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Yahweh.

7Let them flow away like water that runs off;

When he [†]aims his arrows, let them be as [†]headless shafts.

8Let them be as a snail which [†]melts away as it goes along,

Like the miscarriages of a woman which never behold the sun.

9Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns

He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the living and the burning alike.

10The righteous will be glad when he beholds the vengeance;

He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11And men will say, “Surely there is a [†]reward for the righteous;

Surely there is a God who judges [†]on earth!”