God Judges the Earth 1 UST You{ judges} should not think that you can ensure justice if you do not speak out{ to condemn wickedness}. You are not judging cases fairly, and that shows that you are acting only as humans{, not as God’ s representatives}. BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David. Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?
2 UST In fact, you keep thinking about doing things that are wrong. The decisions that you make encourage people to commit violent crimes. BSB BSB: No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.
3 UST Wicked people do wrong things and tell lies from the time when they are born. BSB BSB: The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.
4 UST Wicked people harm other people just as poisonous snakes harm people. They do not pay attention to God’ s commandments, as if they were cobras that refused to listen BSB BSB: Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
5 UST and so did not respond to the music that snake charmers were playing. Even the most skillful charmer could not get them to respond to music. BSB BSB: refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.
6 UST Yahweh my God, wicked people are as dangerous as young lions, but destroy them as if you were breaking the large teeth of such lions. BSB BSB: O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
7 UST Make them disappear like water that flows away. When they try to harm people as if they were shooting arrows at them, keep them from hurting those people, as if those arrows had no heads! BSB BSB: May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.
8 UST May they be like a snail that dissolves as it moves along. May they be like a baby that never lives on earth because it dies before its mother gives birth to it. BSB BSB: Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
9 UST God will punish and destroy them as powerfully as if a whirlwind were carrying them away. He will do that more quickly than thorns can catch fire and heat a pot, even if the thorns are dry, not fresh. BSB BSB: Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.
10 UST Righteous people will celebrate when they see God punish wicked people. It will be as if wicked people were an army that God destroyed and righteous people were walking triumphantly through the battlefield afterwards. BSB BSB: The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 UST Then people will say,“It is true that there is a reward for righteous people! It is true that God judges fairly the people who live on the earth!” BSB BSB: Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.