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¹ Ah, you destroyer,
    who yourself have not been destroyed;
you treacherous one,
    with whom no one has dealt treacherously!
When you have ceased to destroy,
    you will be destroyed;
and when you have stopped dealing treacherously,
    you will be dealt with treacherously.

² O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
    Be our arm every morning,
    our salvation in the time of trouble.
³ At the sound of tumult, peoples fled;
    before your majesty, nations scattered.
⁴ Spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
    as locusts leap, they leaped^[a] upon it.
⁵ The Lord is exalted, he dwells on high;
    he filled Zion with justice and righteousness;
⁶ he will be the stability of your times,
    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.^[b]

⁷ Listen! the valiant^[c] cry in the streets;
    the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
⁸ The highways are deserted,
    travelers have quit the road.
The treaty is broken,
    its oaths^[d] are despised,
    its obligation^[e] is disregarded.
⁹ The land mourns and languishes;
    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert;
    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰ "Now I will arise," says the Lord,
    "now I will lift myself up;
    now I will be exalted.
¹¹ You conceive chaff, you bring forth stubble;
    your breath is a fire that will consume you.
¹² And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
    like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire."

¹³ Hear, you who are far away, what I have done;
    and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid;
    trembling has seized the godless:
"Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
    Who among us can live with everlasting flames?"
¹⁵ Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly,
    who despise the gain of oppression,
who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it,
    who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed
    and shut their eyes from looking on evil,
¹⁶ they will live on the heights;
    their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks;
    their food will be supplied, their water assured.

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
    they will behold a land that stretches far away.
¹⁸ Your mind will muse on the terror:
    "Where is the one who counted?
    Where is the one who weighed the tribute?
    Where is the one who counted the towers?"
¹⁹ No longer will you see the insolent people,
    the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
    stammering in a language that you cannot understand.
²⁰ Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
    Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
    a quiet habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be pulled up,
    and none of whose ropes will 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 can go,
    nor stately ship can pass.
²² For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler,
    the Lord is our king; he will save us.

²³ Your rigging hangs loose;
    it cannot hold the mast firm in its place,
    or keep the sail spread out.

Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
    even the lame will fall to plundering.
²⁴ And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick";
    the people who live there will be forgiven their iniquity.