A Song of Praise

26 In that dayb this song will be sungc in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;d

God makes salvation

its wallse and ramparts.f

2 Open the gatesg

that the righteoush nation may enter,

the nation that keeps faith.

3 You will keep in perfect peacei

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trustj in you.

4 Trustk in the Lord forever,l

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

5 He humbles those who dwell on high,

he lays the lofty city low;

he levels it to the groundn

and casts it down to the dust.o

6 Feet tramplep it down—

the feet of the oppressed,q

the footsteps of the poor.r

7 The path of the righteous is level;s

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

8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,a v

we waitw for you;

your namex and renown

are the desire of our hearts.

9 My soul yearns for you in the night;y

in the morning my spirit longsz for you.

When your judgmentsa come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.b

10 But when grace is shown to the wicked,c

they do not learn righteousness;

even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evild

and do not regarde the majesty of the Lord.

11 Lord, your hand is lifted high,f

but they do not seeg it.

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

let the firej reserved for your enemies consume them.

12 Lord, you establish peacek for us;

all that we have accomplished you have donel for us.

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

but your namen alone do we honor.o

14 They are now dead,p they live no more;

their spiritsq do not rise.

You punished them and brought them to ruin;r

you wiped out all memory of them.s

15 You have enlarged the nation, Lord;

you have enlarged the nation.t

You have gained glory for yourself;

you have extended all the bordersu of the land.

16 Lord, they came to you in their distress;v

when you disciplinedw them,

they could barely whisperx a prayer.b

17 As a pregnant woman about to give birthy

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we in your presence, Lord.

18 We were with child, we writhed in labor,

but we gave birthz to wind.

We have not brought salvationa to the earth,

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

19 But your deadc will live, Lord;

their bodies will rise—

let those who dwell in the dustd

wake up and shout for joy—

your dewe is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.f

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doorsg behind you;

hideh yourselves for a little while

until his wrathi has passed by.j

21 See, the Lord is comingk out of his dwellingl

to punishm the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the bloodn shed on it;

the earth will conceal its slain no longer.