1Trouble is coming to you who destroy, though you were never destroyed. Trouble to you who betray, though no one betrayed you. When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed. When you finish betraying, they will betray you.
2LORD, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be their strength every morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.
3At the noise of the uproar the peoples fled. When you rose up, the nations were scattered.
4Your goods will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. As locusts run here and there, so he will run upon them.
5The LORD is lifted high, for he lives on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6Wisdom and knowledge will make your times secure, and salvation will be your strength. The fear of the LORD is his treasure.
7Look, their brave men cry out in the streets. The messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8The highways lie empty. No traveller passes by. He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he cares for no one.
9The earth mourns and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and cut down. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruit.
10"Now I will rise up," says the LORD. "Now I will be lifted high. Now I will raise myself up."
11You will conceive chaff, and give birth to straw. Your own breath, like fire, will devour you.
12The peoples will be like lime burning in a fire. Like thorns cut up, they will be burned in the fire.
13You who are far off, hear what I have done. You who are near, admit my power.
14The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the hypocrites. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with burnings that never end?
15The one who walks righteously and speaks what is right; who refuses the gain that comes from oppression; who shakes his hands free from taking bribes; who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from looking on evil;
16he will live on high. His place of safety will be the strongholds of rock. He will be given bread, and his water will be sure.
17Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a land that stretches far away.
18Your heart will think back on the terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighed the money? Where is the one who counted the towers?
19You will not see the fierce people again, a people whose speech is too deep for you to follow, whose tongue stammers so that you cannot understand it.
20Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tent that will not be taken down. Not one of its pegs will ever be pulled up, and none of its ropes will be broken.
21But there the glorious LORD will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will go there, and no mighty ship will pass by.
22For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king. He will save us.
23Your ropes hang loose. They could not hold the mast firm, they could not spread the sail. Then great plunder is divided up; even the lame carry off the spoil.
24No one living there will say, "I am sick." The people who live there will be forgiven their sin.