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yet you have never been destroyed;
you deal treacherously,
yet you have never been betrayed!
When you have ceased destroying,
you will be destroyed.
When you stop dealing treacherously,
others will betray you.
2 O Lord, be gracious to us;
we wait for You.
Be our strong arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 At the sound of the tumult, the peoples flee;
when You rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
men will swarm over it like a plague of locusts.
5 The Lord is exalted, He dwells on high;
He fills Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the stability of your times,
a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.
7 Look, their brave men cry in the streets;
the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted,
the traveller has ceased.
Treaties are broken,
cities are despised,
the lives of all people are disregarded.
9 The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is ashamed and withers;
Sharon is like a desert;
Bashan and Carmel shake off their foliage.
10 “Now I will arise,” declares the Lord.
“Now I will be exalted;
now I will be lifted up.
11 You will conceive chaff,
you will bring forth stubble;
your breath is a fire that will devour you.
12 The peoples will be burned as if to lime;
like thorns cut down they will be burned in the fire.
13 Hear, you who are far away, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge My power.”
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us can dwell with the everlasting burning?”
15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain from extortion,
who keeps his hands from accepting bribes,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;
16 he will dwell on the heights;
his refuge will be the rocky fortress.
His food will be given him,
his water will not fail.
17 Your eyes will see the king in His beauty;
you will gaze across a vast land.
18 Your heart will meditate on the former terror:
“Where is the keeper of accounts?
Where is the collecter of tributes?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”
19 You will no longer see the fierce people,
a people of obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will not be pulled up,
neither will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars will go,
nor majestic ships pass by.
22 For the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king;
He will save us.
23 Your rigging hangs loose;
the mast is not held secure,
or keep the sail spread.
Then the abundant spoil will be divided,
the lame will take the plunder.
24 There none will say, “I am sick;”
the people who dwell there
will be forgiven their iniquity.