1 Do you indeed, you rulers mighty,
decree in justice what is right?
Are all your verdicts truth and light?
And do you judge people uprightly?
No, in your hearts you wrongs devise:
you deal out violence and lies.
3 Right from their birth the wicked wander,
and from the womb they go astray;
deceit and falsehood mark their way.
4 Like serpent’s venom is their slander;
they’re deaf like snakes that block their ears
5 lest they the charmer’s voice should hear.
6 God, break the teeth of those that slaughter;
repay them with their victims’ pangs;
tear out their savage lion fangs.
7 O let them vanish like the waters
that over rocks and gravel pass;
cause them to wither as the grass.
8 Let them to ruin be surrendered
like snails that turn to slime and die;
as to untimely births, deny
to them the gift of sunlight’s splendor.
9 Let them like thorns be cleared away;
destroy them, LORD, without delay.
10 Then will the righteous with rejoicing
look on when God his vengeance shows;
they’ll bathe their feet in blood of foes.
11 People will say, their gladness voicing,
“The righteous their reward will see:
there is a God of equity.”
– Walter van der Kamp (1926-2009); alt. Book of Praise: Anglo-Genevan Psalter, alt.
Oremus 