GOD’S PEOPLE VINDICATED

7 The path of the righteous is level;d

you clear a straight path for the righteous.

8 Yes, Lord, we wait for you

in the path of your judgments.

Our desire is for your name and renown.e

9 I long for you in the night;f

yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks you,

for when your judgments are in the land,

the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 But if the wicked man is shown favor,

he does not learn righteousness.

In a righteous land he acts unjustly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

11 Lord, your hand is lifted up to take action,

but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people

and be put to shame.

Let fire consume your adversaries.

12 Lord, you will establish peace for us,

for you have also done all our work for us.

13 Lord our God, lords other than you have ownedA us,

but we remember your name alone.g

14 The dead do not live;

departed spirits do not rise up.

Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them;

you have wiped out all memory of them.h

15 You have added to the nation, Lord.i

You have added to the nation; you are honored.

You have expanded all the borders of the land.j

16 Lord, they went to you in their distress;k

they poured out whispered prayers

because your discipline fell on them.B

17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pains,l

so we were before you, Lord.

18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;

we gave birth to wind.

We have won no victories on earth,

and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

19 Your dead will live; their bodiesC will rise.m

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!

For you will be covered with the morning dew,D

and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and close your doors behind you.

Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.n

21 For look, the Lord is coming from his placeo

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.p

The earth will reveal the blood shed on it

and will no longer conceal her slain.