1   
Do you rulers ^note ever give a just decision?
  Do you judge all men fairly?

2   
No! You think only of the evil you can do,
  and commit crimes of violence in the land.

3   
Evil men go wrong all their lives;
  they tell lies from the day they are born.

4   
They are full of poison like snakes;
  they stop up their ears like a deaf cobra,

5   
which does not hear the voice of the snake charmer,
  or the chant of the clever magician.

6   
Break the teeth of these fierce lions, O God.

7   
May they disappear like water draining away;
  may they be crushed like weeds on a path. ^note

8   
May they be like snails that dissolve into slime;
  may they be like a baby born dead that never sees the light.

9   
Before they know it, they are cut down like weeds;
  in his fierce anger God will blow them away
  while they are still living. ^note

10   
The righteous will be glad when they see sinners punished;
  they will wade through the blood of the wicked.

11   
People will say, “The righteous are indeed rewarded;
  there is indeed a God who judges the world.”

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