Psalms Chapter 58
Psalm 58 (57)

God judges judges. God denounces leaders who establish and maintain a corrupt order instead of being agents of his justice.

2 You gods, are your decrees just, and are your judgments upright?

3 No, you willfully commit crimes; you deal in violence and corruption.

4 Even from the womb the wicked go astray; from birth they are wayward liars.

5 They are poisonous like deadly snakes, deaf as the adder

6 that blocks its ears so as not to hear the charmer’s voice casting spells.

7 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out the fangs of the lions, O Lord.

8 Let them vanish like spilled water; let them be trodden down like grass that withers.

9 Let them be like snails that sink into slime, like untimely births that never see the sun.

10 Like green grass that is burned before the thorns are dry – let them be swept away!

11 The upright will rejoice when they are avenged; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

12 Then will people say, “Surely the righteous are rewarded; surely there is a God who gives judgment on earth.”