26

A Song of Salvation

1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
  “We have a strong city;
   God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
   2Open the gates,
   That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
   3You will keep him in perfect peace,
   Whose mind is stayed on You,
   Because he trusts in You.
   4Trust in the Lord forever,
   For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
   5For He brings down those who dwell on high,
   The lofty city;
   He lays it low,
   He lays it low to the ground,
   He brings it down to the dust.
   6The foot shall tread it down—
   The feet of the poor
   And the steps of the needy.”
  7The way of the just is uprightness;
   O Most Upright,
   You weigh the path of the just.
   8Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
   O Lord, we have waited for You;
   The desire of our soul is for Your name
   And for the remembrance of You.
   9With my soul I have desired You in the night,
   Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
   For when Your judgments are in the earth,
   The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
   10Let grace be shown to the wicked,
   Yet he will not learn righteousness;
   In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
   And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
   11Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see.
   But they will see and be ashamed
   For their envy of people;
   Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
  12Lord, You will establish peace for us,
   For You have also done all our works in us.
   13O Lord our God, masters besides You
   Have had dominion over us;
   But by You only we make mention of Your name.
   14They are dead, they will not live;
   They are deceased, they will not rise.
   Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
   And made all their memory to perish.
   15You have increased the nation, O Lord,
   You have increased the nation;
   You are glorified;
   You have expanded all the borders of the land.
  16Lord, in trouble they have visited You,
   They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
   17As a woman with child
   Is in pain and cries out in her pangs,
   When she draws near the time of her delivery,
   So have we been in Your sight, O Lord.
   18We have been with child, we have been in pain;
   We have, as it were, brought forth wind;
   We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,
   Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
  19Your dead shall live;
   Together with my dead body they shall arise.
   Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
   For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
   And the earth shall cast out the dead.

Take Refuge from the Coming Judgment

  20Come, my people, enter your chambers,
   And shut your doors behind you;
   Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment,
   Until the indignation is past.
   21For behold, the Lordcomes out of His place
   To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
   The earth will also disclose her blood,
   And will no more cover her slain.