26:1 | In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. |
26:2 | Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. |
26:3 | You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. |
26:4 | Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. |
26:5 | He 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. |
26:6 | Feet trample it down--the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. |
26:7 | The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth. |
26:8 | Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. |
26:9 | My 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. |
26:10 | Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the LORD. |
26:11 | O LORD, 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. |
26:12 | LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. |
26:13 | O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor. |
26:14 | They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them. |
26:15 | You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land. |
26:16 | LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. |
26:17 | As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD. |
26:18 | We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world. |
26:19 | But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You 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. |
26:20 | Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. |
26:21 | See, 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 upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer. |
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