Psalm 58

Common Metre (8,6,8,6)

Suggested Tunes: 90 Morven, 59 Evan

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 hearts

            ye wickedness have done;

      And ye the vi’lence of your hands

            do weigh the earth upon.

3    The wicked men estranged are,

            ev’n from the very womb;

      They, speaking lies, do stray as soon

            as to the world they come.

4    Unto a serpent’s poison like

            their poison doth appear;

      Yea, they are like the adder deaf,

            that closely stops her ear;

5    That so she may not hear the voice

            of one that charm her would,

      No, not though he most cunning were,

            and charm most wisely could.

6    Their teeth, O God, within their mouth

            break 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, that

            they never see the sun.

9    He shall them take away before

            your 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 feet

            in blood of wicked men.

11  So men shall say, The righteous man

            reward shall never miss:

      And verily upon the earth

            a God to judge there is.