Psalms  ◦   Chapter 58

1Do you speak what is right, or remain silent?
Do you govern the people fairly — do what is good for others?

2No! Your hearts are selfish and you plot to advantage yourselves;
you orchestrate violent crimes throughout the earth.

3Their whole life long, the wicked refuse healing;
from birth they persist in selfishness, lies, and breaking God’s design.

4Their ways are poisonous like the venom of a snake;
they are unresponsive to truth, like a deaf cobra

5that doesn’t respond to the music of the snake charmer,
no matter how masterfully the charmer plays.

6Pull out their fangs, O God;
muzzle the mouth of those ravenous brutes, O Lord!

7They fade away like water soaking into dry ground;
they wither away like grass.

8They are like a snail that melts into slime,
like a stillborn fetus that never sees the light.

9These unclean vessels don’t learn from their thorny and destructive choices —
whether young or old — the persistently selfish will be angry when they are all swept away.

10The healed — those with Godlike hearts — will be glad when selfishness is eradicated;
they will wash from their lives the blood, pain and loss caused by the wicked.

11Then people will say,
"There truly is a reward for those who are Godlike in heart;
truly, there is a God of love who rules the entire earth."