[1] In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a
strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. [2] Open the
gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in. [3] Thou
dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he
trusts in thee. [4] Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD GOD is an
everlasting rock. [5] For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the
dust. [6] The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the
needy." [7] The way of the righteous is level; thou dost make smooth the
path of the righteous. [8] In the path of thy judgments, O LORD, we wait
for thee; thy memorial name is the desire of our soul. [9] My soul yearns
for thee in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks thee. For when
thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn
righteousness. [10] If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn
righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals perversely and does not
see the majesty of the LORD. [11] O LORD, thy hand is lifted up, but they
see it not. Let them see thy zeal for thy people, and be ashamed. Let the
fire for thy adversaries consume them. [12] O LORD, thou wilt ordain peace
for us, thou hast wrought for us all our works. [13] O LORD our God, other
lords besides thee have ruled over us, but thy name alone we acknowledge.
[14] They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not
arise; to that end thou hast visited them with destruction and wiped out
all remembrance of them. [15] But thou hast increased the nation, O LORD,
thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified; thou hast enlarged all
the borders of the land. [16] O LORD, in distress they sought thee, they
poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. [17] Like a woman
with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs, when she is near her
time, so were we because of thee, O LORD; [18] we were with child, we
writhed, we have as it were brought forth wind. We have wrought no
deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
[19] Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust,
awake and sing for joy! For thy dew is a dew of light, and on the land of
the shades thou wilt let it fall. [20] Come, my people, enter your
chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little
while until the wrath is past. [21] For behold, the LORD is coming forth
out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her, and will no more cover
her slain.
