25TH CHAPTER

The Lord Protects the Weak

1  O Lord, you are my God. 

I will highly honor you; I will praise your name. 

You have done miraculous things. 

You have been completely reliable 

in carrying out your plans from long ago. 

2  You have turned cities into ruins, 

fortified cities into piles of rubble, 

and foreigners’ palaces into cities that will never be rebuilt. 

3  That is why strong people will honor you, 

and cities ruled by the world’s tyrants will fear you. 

4  You have been a refuge for the poor, 

a refuge for the needy in their distress, 

a shelter from the rain, and shade from the heat. 

(A tyrant’s breath is like a rainstorm against a wall, 

5  like heat in a dry land.) 

You calm the uproar of foreigners. 

The song of tyrants is silenced 

like heat that is ⸤reduced⸥ by the shadow of a cloud. 

Death Will Be Swallowed Up

6  On this mountain the Lord of Armies will prepare for all people 

a feast with the best foods, 

a banquet with aged wines, 

with the best foods and the finest wines. 

7  On this mountain he will remove 

the veil of grief covering all people 

and the mask covering all nations. 

8  He will swallow up death forever. 

The Almighty Lord will wipe away tears from every face, 

and he will remove the disgrace of his people from the whole earth. 

The Lord has spoken. 

9  On that day ⸤his people⸥ will say, 

“This is our God; we have waited for him, and now he will save us. 

This is the Lord; we have waited for him. 

Let us rejoice and be glad because he will save us.” 

10  The Lord’s power will be on this mountain. 

Moab will be trampled beneath him 

like straw that is trampled in a pile of manure. 

11  The Moabites will stretch out their hands in the manure 

like swimmers who stretch out their hands to swim. 

⸤The Lord⸥ will humble those arrogant people 

despite the movements of their hands. 

12  He will bring down Moab’s high fortified walls, 

level them, and throw them into the dust on the ground.