A song of praise

1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;

God makes salvation

its walls and ramparts.

2Open the gates

that the righteous nation may enter,

the nation that keeps faith.

3You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you.

4Trust in the Lord for ever,

for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

5He humbles those who dwell on high,

he lays the lofty city low;

he levels it to the ground

and casts it down to the dust.

6Feet trample it down –

the feet of the oppressed,

the footsteps of the poor.

7The path of the righteous is level;

you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.

8Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,26:8 Or judgments

we wait for you;

your name and renown

are the desire of our hearts.

9My soul yearns for you in the night;

in the morning my spirit longs for you.

When your judgments come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.

10But when grace is shown to the wicked,

they do not learn righteousness;

even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil

and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.

11Lord, your hand is lifted high,

but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame;

let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

12Lord, you establish peace for us;

all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

13Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,

but your name alone do we honour.

14They are now dead, they live no more;

their spirits do not rise.

You punished them and brought them to ruin;

you wiped out all memory of them.

15You have enlarged the nation, Lord;

you have enlarged the nation.

You have gained glory for yourself;

you have extended all the borders of the land.

16Lord, they came to you in their distress;

when you disciplined them,

they could barely whisper a prayer.26:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.

17As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we in your presence, Lord.

18We were with child, we writhed in labour,

but we gave birth to wind.

We have not brought salvation to the earth,

and the people of the world have not come to life.

19But your dead will live, Lord;

their bodies will rise –

let those who dwell in the dust

wake up and shout for joy –

your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

20Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

21See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed on it;

the earth will conceal its slain no longer.