The Holy Bible

The Song of Judah

that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
God has established salvation for its walls and ramparts. 2 Open the gates,
so the righteous nation may enter in— one that keeps faith.

3 “You will keep in perfect peace
the one whose mind is dependant on You, because he trusts in You.

4 “Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord, the Lord is the everlasting Rock. 5 For He humbles those who dwell on high,
He lays low the lofty city. He brings it down to the ground,
He casts it to the dust. 6 The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.”

7 “The path of the righteous is level;
O, most upright One, You make smooth the path of the righteous. 8 In the path of Your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for You. Your name and Your renown
are the desire of our soul. 9 My soul yearns for You in the night;
in the morning my spirit within me seeks You. For when Your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10 “If grace is shown to the wicked,
yet he will not learn righteousness; even in an upright land he deals unjustly,
and does not comprehend the majesty of the Lord. 11 O Lord, Your hand is lifted up,
yet they do not see it. Let them see Your zeal for Your people,
and they will be put to shame; the fire set apart for Your enemies
will consume them.

12 “O Lord, You have established peace for us,
for in all our work, You have worked for us. 13 O Lord our God,
other lords than You have ruled over us, but Your name alone we do honour. 14 They are dead now, they do not live;
they are deceased, they do not rise. You have visited and destroyed them,
and erased all memory of them. 15 But You have enlarged the nation, O Lord
You have enlarged the nation. You have gained the glory;
You have enlarged the borders of the land.

16 “O Lord, in their distress they came to You;
they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them. 17 As a woman with child writhes and cries out in her pangs,
when she draws near to her time, so were we before You, O Lord. 18 We were with child, we writhed in pain,
but we only gave birth to the wind. We have won no victories on earth,
nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 “But Your dead will live;
their bodies will rise. Awake and sing,
you who dwell in the dust! Your dew is like the dew of the morning,
and the earth will cast forth the dead.

20 “Go, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut the doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little moment
until the wrath has passed. 21 For behold, the Lord is coming from His place,
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her,
and will no longer conceal her slain.”