O Lord, Be Gracious to Us
1Ah, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
2O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
5The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.
7Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8The highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
Covenants are broken;
cities are despised;
there is no regard for man.
9The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned 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 the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
17Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
they will see a land that stretches afar.
18Your heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
Where is he who counted the towers?”
19You will see no more the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
22For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver;
the Lord is our king; he will save us.
23Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even the lame will take the prey.
24And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
