David condemns unjust rulers, who plan evil and whose venom is like a snake's. He asks God to break their teeth and says that people will say there is a God who judges the earth.
1 To the chief Musician , Altaschith , Michtam of David . Do ye indeed speak righteousness , O congregation ? do ye judge uprightly , O ye sons of men ?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness ; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth .
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb : they go astray as soon as they be born , speaking lies .
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent : they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear ;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers , charming never so wisely .
6 Break their teeth , O God , in their mouth : break out the great teeth of the young lions , O LORD .
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually : when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows , let them be as cut in pieces .
8 As a snail which melteth , let every one of them pass away : like the untimely birth of a woman , that they may not see the sun .
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns , he shall take them away as with a whirlwind , both living , and in his wrath .
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance : he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked .
11 So that a man shall say , Verily there is a reward for the righteous : verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth .