In finem, ne disperdas. David in tituli inscriptionem.

Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title.

(To the choir-master. Melody: Do not destroy. Of David. A miktam.)

Si vere utique justitiam loquimini, recta judicate, filii hominum.

If in very deed you speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men.

Nobles all, are they honest words you utter? And you, common folk, do you make just award?

Etenim in corde iniquitates operamini; in terra injustitias manus vestræ concinnant.

For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice in the earth.

See how you devise treachery in your hearts, deal out to this land nothing but oppression!

Alienati sunt peccatores a vulva; erraverunt ab utero: locuti sunt falsa.

The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.

Sinners that left the womb only to go a-straying; renegades and liars their mothers bore them!

Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis, sicut aspidis surdæ et obturantis aures suas,

Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ears:

They are venomous as serpents, as the asp that turns a deaf ear

quæ non exaudiet vocem incantantium, et venefici incantantis sapienter.

Which will not hear the voice of the charmers; nor of the wizard that charmeth wisely.

and will not listen to the snake-charmer’s music, skilful player though he be.

Deus conteret dentes eorum in ore ipsorum; molas leonum confringet Dominus.

God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions.

My God, break their cruel fangs; Lord, shatter their jaws, strong as the jaws of lions.

Ad nihilum devenient tamquam aqua decurrens; intendit arcum suum donec infirmentur.

They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent his bow till they be weakened.

Like spilt water let them run to waste, shoot none but harmless arrows;

Sicut cera quæ fluit auferentur; supercecidit ignis, et non viderunt solem.

Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun.

melt into nothing, the snail’s way, perish like the untimely birth that sees never the light of the sun.

Priusquam intelligerent spinæ vestræ rhamnum, sicut viventes sic in ira absorbet eos.

Before your thorns could know the brier; he swalloweth them up, as alive, in his wrath.

Green stalks the whirlwind carries away, while yonder pot still waits for fuel!

Lætabitur justus cum viderit vindictam; manus suas lavabit in sanguine peccatoris.

The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.

The innocent man will triumph at the sight of their punishment, as he dips his hands in the blood of the evil-doer;

Et dicet homo: Si utique est fructus justo, utique est Deus judicans eos in terra.

And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.

Sure enough, men will say, innocence has its reward, sure enough, there is a God who grants redress here on earth.