- 1
- ¶ WOE to you that plunder, but you shall not plunder, and let no one deal treacherously among you;
for when you seek to plunder, they will plunder you; and when you seek to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.
- 2
- O LORD, be gracious to us;
for in thee is our trust; be thou our helper every morning, our salvation also in the time of distress.
- 3
- At the noise of thy tumult the people fled;
at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
- 4
- Henceforth your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar;
as a swarm of locusts when it is gathered together.
- 5
- The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
- 6
- And faith shall be the stability of your times, and your salvation in a place of refuge;
wisdom and knowledge and the reverence of the LORD is his treasure.
- 7
- If he should be seen by them they shall howl violently;
the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
- 8
- The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases, and the covenant is broken;
the cities are despised, and there is no regard for man.
- 9
- The earth mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is ashamed and confounded; Sharon has become like a desert plain; and Bashan and Carmel are desolate.
- 10
- Now I will arise, says the LORD;
now I will be exalted; now I will lift up myself.
- 11
- You shall conceive thorns, you shall bring forth stubble;
your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
- 12
- And the peoples shall be as the burning of lime;
as thorns that are gathered together shall they be burned in the fire.
- 13
- ¶ Hear, you who are far off, what I have clone;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
- 14
- The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the heathen. Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
- 15
- He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly;
he who despises treachery and oppression, who refuses to accept a bribe, who stops his ears that he may not hear of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes that he may not see evil.
- 16
- He shall dwell on high;
his place of defense shall be the precipice of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure.
- 17
- Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty;
they shall behold the lands that are far off.
- 18
- Your heart shall learn reverence.
Where is the scribe? Where is the weigher? Where is he who counted towers for a mighty people?
- 19
- You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech, of a stammering tongue, so that he cannot be understood.
- 20
- Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities;
your eyes shall see Jerusalem a rich habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be shaken to and fro; whose pegs shall never be removed, neither shall any of its cords be broken.
- 21
- For there the name of the LORD is glorious to us;
he will be for us a place of light, an enlightenment, and an open space made by the hand; wherein the authority of a prince shall not reign, neither shall the mighty one be able to invade it.
- 22
- For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king;
and he is our Saviour.
- 23
- Your riggings are loosed;
they could not well hold straight their mast, they could not spread the sail; until they have divided the prey, a multitude of lame shall take it.
- 24
- And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick;
the people who dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
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