1 Woe to you, destroyer, though you yourself have not been destroyed; woe to you, betrayer, though no one has betrayed you! When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed; when you are done betraying, you will be betrayed.
2 LORD, show us grace; we have waited for you. Be their arm every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.
3 At the noise of the uproar the peoples run away; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder is gathered up as caterpillars strip a field; people swarm over it like locusts.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he lives on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the security of your times, a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
7 Listen, their heroes cry aloud in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitter tears.
8 The highways are deserted; no travelers are on the roads. He has broken the covenant, he despises the cities, he has no regard for anyone.
9 The land dries up and wastes away; Lebanon is shamed and decays; Sharon has become like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
10 "Now I will rise up," says the LORD. "Now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.
11 You are pregnant with chaff and give birth to straw; your own breath is a fire that will eat you up.
12 The peoples will be burned down to lime, like cut thorns thrown into the fire.
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, recognize my power!"
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Which of us can live with the consuming fire? Which of us can live with everlasting flames?"
15 The one who walks in righteousness and speaks what is right, who rejects profit gained by extortion, who keeps his hands from taking a bribe, who blocks his ears so as not to hear of bloodshed and closes his eyes so as not to look at evil,
16 that man will live on the heights; mountain fortresses will be his refuge; he will be given his bread, and his water will never fail.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his splendor and look on a land that stretches into the distance.
18 Your mind will think back on the terror: "Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who took stock of the towers?"
19 You will no longer see that arrogant people, a people whose speech is too hard to make out, whose stammering language no one understands.
20 Look at Zion, the city of our festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled home, a tent that will never be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, and not one of its ropes will be snapped.
21 There the LORD will be our mighty one, a place of wide rivers and streams where no galley with oars will go and no stately ship will sail.
22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he is the one who will save us.
23 Your rigging hangs slack; it cannot hold the mast in its socket or keep the sail spread. Then a great amount of plunder will be divided; even the lame will carry off loot.
24 No one living there will say, "I am sick"; the people who live there will have their iniquity forgiven.