¹{To the chief Musician. 'Destroy not.' Of David. Michtam.} Is righteousness indeed silent? Do ye speak it? Do ye judge with equity, ye sons of men?

¹¶ Ki te tino kaiwhakatangi. Aratakiti. He Mikitama. Na Rawiri. He korero puku ranei ta koutou i te pono? he tika ranei ta koutou whakarite, e nga tama a te tangata?

²Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

²He pono, e mahia ana e koutou te he i roto i te ngakau, e paunatia ana e koutou te tutu a o koutou ringa i runga i te whenua.

³The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

³He tangata ke te hunga hara no te kopu mai ano; whanau kau kua kotiti ke, kua korero teka.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;

⁴Ko to ratou paihana he rite ki to te nakahi, kei te neke turi e puru nei i tona taringa;

⁵Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.

⁵E kore nei e whakarongo ki te reo o te kaiwhakawai, ahakoa tino matau ia ki te whakawai.

⁶O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

⁶¶ Whatiia, e te Atua, o ratou niho i roto i o ratou mangai: kowhakia, e Ihowa, nga niho nunui o nga kuao raiona.

⁷Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted:

⁷Kia mimiti ratou, ano he wai e heke atu ana: ka whakatikaia ana pere, kia rite ki te mea kua poutoa.

⁸Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun.

⁸Kia memeha haere, a kia pahure, ano he ngata: kia rite ki te mea mate roto a te wahine, kahore nei i kite i te ra.

⁹Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning, -- they shall be whirled away.

⁹E kore e tukua kia rongo a koutou kohua i nga tataramoa, ka kahakina ratou e ia i roto i te awhiowhio, te mea kaiota, te mea e wera ana.

¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked:

¹⁰Ka hari te tangata tika ua kite i te utu: ka horoia e ia ona waewae ki nga toto o te tangata hara.

¹¹And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.

¹¹A ka mea te tangata, Koia, ka whai utu te tangata tika: ina, he Atua ano tenei e whakawa ana i te whenua.