1Woe, you destroyer, though you yourself have not been destroyed; you traitor, though none has betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; when you cease dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you.
2Yahweh, be gracious to us; for you we have waited. Be their arm every morning, indeed our salvation in the time of distress.
3At the sound of tumult peoples flee; at your rising the nations are scattered.
4Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; like the swarming of locusts one rushes upon it.
5Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6And the faithfulness of your times will be a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of Yahweh — that is his treasure.
7Look, their valiant ones cry out in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8The highways lie desolate; the traveler on the road has ceased. He has broken the covenant, despised the cities; he regards no one.
9The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and withers. Sharon has become like the desert plain, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10“Now I will arise,” says Yahweh, “now I will be exalted, now I will lift myself up.”
11You conceive chaff, you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12And the peoples will be like burnings of lime, like thorns cut down that are set ablaze in the fire.
13Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15The one who walks in righteousness and speaks uprightly, who rejects gain from oppression, who shakes his hands free from grasping a bribe, who stops his ear from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil —
16he will dwell on the heights; the fortresses of rocks will be his stronghold; his bread will be given, his water sure.
17Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land stretching far.
18Your heart will muse on the terror: “Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed? Where is the one who counted the towers?”
19You will no longer see the fierce people, a people of speech too obscure to understand, of a stammering tongue with no comprehension.
20Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved, whose pegs will never be pulled up and none of whose cords will be broken.
21But there Yahweh in majesty will be for us a place of rivers and broad streams, where no galley with oars will go and no majestic ship will pass.
22For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king; he will save us.
23Your rigging hangs slack; they cannot hold firm the base of their mast, they cannot spread the sail. Then abundant spoil is divided as plunder; even the lame carry off the prey.
24And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
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