Read the Bible

¹ Alas! thou plunderer when, thou, hadst not been plundered, And thou traitor when they had not betrayed thee: When thou hast ceased plundering, thou shalt be plundered, When thou hast left off betraying, they shall betray thee.² O Yahweh! shew us favour, - For thee, have we waited, - Be thou their arm every morning, Yea our salvation in the time of distress.³ At the noise of a tumult, the peoples retreated, - When thou didst lift thyself up, nations were scattered.⁴ Then shall your spoil be gathered as the gathering of the caterpillar, - As the swift running of locusts, is he about to run upon them.⁵ Exalted is Yahweh, for he inhabiteth a height, - He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.⁶ So shall a wealth of deliverances, wisdom and knowledge, become the stability of thy times, - the reverence of Yahweh, the game is his treasure.⁷ Lo! their heroes, have cried out openly, - the messengers of peace, in bitterness, continue weeping they say :⁸ The highways are deserted, The passer-by on the path, hath ceased, - He hath broken covenant, He hath despised cities, He hath made no account of men.⁹ The land mourneth, languisheth, Lebanon, displayeth shame, is withered, - Sharon, hath become, as the waste plain, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves.¹⁰ Now, will I arise, Saith Yahweh, Now, will I lift myself up, Now, will I be exalted!¹¹ Ye shall conceive chaff Ye shall bring forth stubble, - Your own breath, like fire, shall devour you.¹² So shall peoples, become, as the burnings of lime, - As thorns lopped off, with fire, shall they be burned.

¹³ Hear - ye that are far off. what I have done, And know - ye that are near my might:¹⁴ Terror-stricken in Zion, - are sinners, Shuddering hath seized the impious, - Who among us can sojourn with a fire that devoureth? Who among us can sojourn with burnings age-abiding?¹⁵ He that walketh righteously, And speaketh uprightly, - He that refuseth the gain of exactions That shaketh his hands free from holding a bribe, That stoppeth his ear from hearkening to deeds of blood, And shutteth his eyes from giving countenance to wrong,¹⁶ He, the heights, shall inhabit, A stronghold of crags, shall be his refuge, - His bread, hath been delivered, His waters, have been made sure,¹⁷ Of a king, in his beauty, shall thine eyes have vision: They shall see a land that stretcheth afar.¹⁸ Thy heart, may murmur in terror, - Where is the scribe? Where - the receiver? Where - he that maketh a list of the towers?¹⁹ The fierce people, shalt thou not see, - The people of too deep a lip to be understood, of too barbarous a tongue for thee to comprehend.²⁰ Look thou on Zion, the city of our appointed feast, - Thine own eyes, shall see Jerusalem - A home of comfort A tent which shall not be packed up - Whose pins shall not be pulled out, for ever, And none of, whose cords, shall be broken.²¹ But, there shall Yahweh be our majestic one, A places of rivers - streams broad on both hands, Wherein shall go no galley with oars, Neither shall majestic ship traverse it;²² For, Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh, is our lawgiver, - Yahweh, is our king, He will save us!²³ Loosed are thy ropes, - They cannot strengthen the socket of their mast They have not unfurled a sail Now, can be apportioned spoil, in abundance, The lame, have captured prey!²⁴ Neither shall the inhabitant say. I am sick, - the people who dwell therein, have been forgiven iniquity.