Study Desk

For You have made a city into a heap [of trash], A fortified city into a ruin; A palace of foreigners is no longer a city, It will never be rebuilt.

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless, A stronghold for the poor in his distress, A shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of tyrants Is like a rainstorm against a wall.

On this mountain [Zion] the LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples [to welcome His reign on earth], A banquet of aged wines—choice pieces [flavored] with marrow, Of refined, aged wines.

He will swallow up death [and abolish it] for all time. And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, And He will take away the disgrace of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.

It will be said in that day, "Indeed, this is our God for whom we have waited that He would save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us shout for joy and rejoice in His salvation."

For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain [Zion], And Moab will be trampled down in his place As straw is trampled down in the [filthy] water of a manure pile.

"Trust [confidently] in the LORD forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner], For the LORD GOD is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

"For He has thrown down the [arrogant] ones who dwell on high, the lofty and inaccessible city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He hurls it to the dust.

The way of the righteous [those in right-standing with God—living in moral and spiritual integrity] is smooth and level; O Upright One, make a level path for the just and righteous.

Indeed, in the path of Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited expectantly for You; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire and deep longing of our souls.

In the night my soul longs for You [O LORD], Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For [only] when Your judgments are experienced on the earth Will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O LORD, the wicked do not see it. Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame; Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.

LORD, You will establish peace for us, Since You have also performed for us all that we have done.

We have been with child, we have twisted and struggled in labor; We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. We could not accomplish salvation for the earth, Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

Your dead will live; Their dead bodies will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy! For your dew is a dew of [celestial] light [heavenly, supernatural], And the earth will give birth to the spirits of the dead.

Come, my people, enter your chambers And shut your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until the [LORD'S] wrath is past.

Listen carefully, the LORD is about to come out of His [heavenly] place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing]; The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon her And will no longer cover her slain.

Therefore through this the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of Jacob (Israel) will be atoned for and forgiven; And this will be the full price [that God requires] for taking away his sin: When Israel makes all the stones of the [pagan] altars like crushed chalk stones; When the Asherim and the incense altars will not stand.

For the fortified city is isolated, A settlement deserted and abandoned like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.

When its branches are dry, they are broken off; The women come and make a fire with them. For they are not a people of understanding, Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them, And He who created them will not be gracious to them.