| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1For the choir director: "Do Not Destroy." A Davidic Miktam. Do you really speak righteously, you mighty ones? Do you judge people fairly? | 1Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly? |
| 2No, you practice injustice in your hearts; with your hands you weigh out violence in the land. | 2No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land. |
| 3The wicked go astray from the womb; liars err from birth. | 3These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way. |
| 4They have venom like the venom of a snake, like the deaf cobra that stops up its ears, | 4They spit venom like deadly snakes; they are like cobras that refuse to listen, |
| 5that does not listen to the sound of the charmers who skillfully weave spells. | 5ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play. |
| 6God, knock the teeth out of their mouths; LORD, tear out the young lions' fangs. | 6Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions, O LORD! |
| 7They will vanish like water that flows by; they will aim their useless arrows. | 7May they disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands. |
| 8Like a slug that moves along in slime, like a woman's miscarried child, they will not see the sun. | 8May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun. |
| 9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns-- whether green or burning-- He will sweep them away. | 9God will sweep them away, both young and old, faster than a pot heats over burning thorns. |
| 10The righteous one will rejoice when he sees the retribution; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. | 10The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. |
| 11Then people will say," Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! There is a God who judges on earth!" | 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.” |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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