1 On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:Ours is a strong city!God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates and let a righteous nation enter,a nation that keeps faith.
3 Those with sound thoughts you will keep in peace,in peace because they trust in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,for the Lord is a rock for all ages.
5 He has thrown down those living on high,and he will level the lofty town,leveling it down to the earth;he will bring it down to dust.
6 The feet trample it,the feet of the poor,the steps of the needy.
7 The way of the righteous is level;you clear a path for the righteous.
8 In the path of your justice, Lord, we wait for you;with all our being, we long for your name and your acclaim.
9 At night I long for you with my whole being;my spirit within me watches for you.When your judgments are at work in the earth,those living in the world learn righteousness.
10 When the wicked are favored, they don’t learn righteousness;even among those who do right they do wrong,and they fail to see the Lord’s majesty.
11 Lord, your hand is lifted up,but they don’t see.Let them see and shrink back because of your zeal for your people;your burning anger that consumes your enemies.
12 Lord, grant us peace,because all that we have done has been your doing.
13 Lord our God, other masters besides you have ruled us,but we will profess your name alone.
14 The dead don’t live; ghosts don’t rise.Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them,and abolished all memory of them.
15 You’ve enlarged the nation, Lord.You’ve enlarged the nation; you are glorified.You’ve expanded all the land’s boundaries.
16 Lord, in distress they sought you out;they poured out prayers to you when you disciplined them.
17 As a pregnant woman close to childbirth is in labor pains,crying out in her pangs,so were we because of you, Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we writhed,but we gave birth to wind.We have achieved no victories on earth;the inhabitants of the earth never fall.
19 Your dead will live, their corpses will rise,and those who dwell in the dust will shout for joy.Your shadow is a shadow of light,but you will bring down the ghosts into the underworld.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you.Take cover, for in a little while the fury will be over.
21 Look! The Lord is going out from his placeto bring the iniquity of the ruler of the earth down upon him.The earth will uncover its bloodand will conceal its slain no longer.