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?

¹To the Overseer. — `Destroy not.` — A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?

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.

²Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.

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

³The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.

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

⁴Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,

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

⁵Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.

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

⁶O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.

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

⁷They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.

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.

⁸As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.

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.

⁹Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.

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

¹⁰The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.

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

¹¹And man saith: `Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!`