1 In 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.
That the righteous nation which [a]keeps the truth may enter in.
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
For in Yah, the Lord, is [b]everlasting strength.
The lofty city;
He lays it low,
He lays it low to the ground,
He brings it down to the dust.
The feet of the poor
And the steps of the needy.”
O Most Upright,
You [e]weigh the path of the just.
O Lord, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.
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.
Yet he will not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
But they will see and be ashamed
For [f]their envy of people;
Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
For You have also done all our works [g]in us.
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.
You have increased the nation;
You are glorified;
You have expanded all the [h]borders of the land.
They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
Is in pain and cries out in her [i]pangs,
When she draws near the time of her delivery,
So have we been in Your sight, O Lord.
We have, as it were, [j]brought forth wind;
We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,
Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
Together with [k]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.
20 Come, 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.
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
The earth will also disclose her [l]blood,
And will no more cover her slain.