| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David. Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? | 1Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly? |
| 2No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. | 2No! You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land. |
| 3The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. | 3These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way. |
| 4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, | 4They spit venom like deadly snakes; they are like cobras that refuse to listen, |
| 5Which will not heed the voice of charmers, Charming ever so skillfully. | 5ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play. |
| 6Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! | 6Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions, O LORD! |
| 7Let them flow away as waters which run continually; When he bends his bow, Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces. | 7May they disappear like water into thirsty ground. Make their weapons useless in their hands. |
| 8Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may 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 burning thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, As in His living and burning wrath. | 9God will sweep them away, both young and old, faster than a pot heats over burning thorns. |
| 10The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall 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. |
| 11So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the 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.” |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | 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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