✧For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David. Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? ✧2No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth. ✧3The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth. ✧4Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears, ✧5refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell. ✧6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions. ✧7May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted. ✧8Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun. ✧9Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away. ✧10The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. ✧11Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”