1. Do ye, O congregation,indeed speak righteousness?O ye that are the sons of men,judge ye with uprightness?
2. Yea, ev'n within your very heartsye wickedness have done;And ye the vi'lence of your handsdo weigh the earth upon.
3. The wicked men estranged are,ev'n from the very womb;They, speaking lies, do stray as soonas to the world they come.
4. Unto a serpent's poison liketheir poison doth appear;Yea, they are like the adder deaf,that closely stops her ear;
5. That so she may not hear the voiceof one that charm her would,No, not though he most cunning were,and charm most wisely could.
6. Their teeth, O God, within their mouthbreak thou in pieces small;The great teeth break thou out, O Lord,of these young lions all.
7. Let them like waters melt away,which downward still do flow:In pieces cut his arrows all,when he shall bend his bow.
8. Like to a snail that melts away,let each of them be gone;Like woman's birth untimely, thatthey never see the sun.
9. He shall them take away beforeyour pots the thorns can find,Both living, and in fury great,as with a stormy wind.
10. The righteous, when he vengeance sees,he shall be joyful then;The righteous one shall wash his feetin blood of wicked men.
11. So men shall say,The righteous manreward shall never miss:And verily upon the eartha God to judge there is.