God Will Give His People Victory
1 A day is coming when the people will sing this song in the land of Judah:
Our city is strong!
God himself defends its walls!
2 Open the city gates
and let the faithful nation enter,
the nation whose people do what is right.
3 You, Lord, give perfect peace
to those who keep their purpose firm
and put their trust in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever;
he will always protect us.
5 He has humbled those who were proud;
he destroyed the strong city they lived in,
and sent its walls crashing into the dust.
6 Those who were oppressed walk over it now
and trample it under their feet.
7 Lord, you make the path smooth for good people;
the road they travel is level.
8 We follow your will and put our hope in you;
you are all that we desire.
9 At night I long for you with all my heart;
when you judge the earth and its people,
they will all learn what justice is.
10 Even though you are kind to the wicked,
they never learn to do what is right.
Even here in a land of righteous people
they still do wrong;
they refuse to recognize your greatness.
11 Your enemies do not know that you will punish them.
Lord, put them to shame and let them suffer;
let them suffer the punishment you have prepared.
Show them how much you love your people.
12 You will give us prosperity, Lord;
everything that we achieve
is the result of what you do.
13 Lord our God, we have been ruled by others,
but you alone are our Lord.
14 Now they are dead and will not live again;
their ghosts will not rise,
for you have punished them and destroyed them.
No one remembers them any more.
15 Lord, you have made our nation grow,
enlarging its territory on every side;
and this has brought you honor.
16 You punished your people, Lord,
and in anguish they prayed to you.
17 You, Lord, have made us cry out,
as a woman in labor cries out in pain.
18 We were in pain and agony,
but we gave birth to nothing.
We have won no victory for our land;
we have accomplished nothing.
19 Those of our people who have died will live again!
Their bodies will come back to life.
All those sleeping in their graves
will wake up and sing for joy.
As the sparkling dew refreshes the earth,
so the Lord will revive those who have long been dead.
Judgment and Restoration
20 Go into your houses, my people, and shut the door behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until God's anger is over. 21 The Lord is coming from his heavenly dwelling place to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The murders that were secretly committed on the earth will be revealed, and the ground will no longer hide those who have been killed.
1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. 2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
5 ¶ For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. 6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. 7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. 8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. 9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. 11 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
12 ¶ LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. 14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. 15 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. 16 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. 17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. 18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 ¶ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.