For the choir director: A psalma of David, to be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”

1Justice—do you rulersb know the meaning of the word?

Do you judge the people fairly?

2No! You plot injustice in your hearts.

You spread violence throughout the land.

3These wicked people are born sinners;

even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.

4They spit venom like deadly snakes;

they are like cobras that refuse to listen,

5ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers,

no matter how skillfully they play.

6Break off their fangs, O God!

Smash the jaws of these lions, O LORD!

7May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.

Make their weapons useless in their hands.c

8May they be like snails that dissolve into slime,

like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.

9God will sweep them away, both young and old,

faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.

10The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged.

They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11Then at last everyone will say,

“There truly is a reward for those who live for God;

surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”