The LORD Is Exalted

1Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed,

O traitor never betrayed!

When you have finished destroying,

you will be destroyed.

When you have finished betraying,

you will be betrayed.

2O LORD {YHWH}, be gracious to us!

We wait for You.

Be our strength every morning

and our salvation in time of trouble.

3The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice;

the nations scatter when You rise.

4Your⁺ spoil, O nations, (O nations)a is gathered as by locusts;

like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

5The LORD {YHWH} is exalted, for He dwells on high;

He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6He will be the sure foundation for your times,

a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.

The fear of the LORD {YHWH} is Zion’s treasure.

7Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets;

the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

8The highways are deserted;

travel has ceased.

The treaty (covenant)b has been broken,

the witnesses [the cities]c are despised,

and human life is disregarded.

9The land mourns and languishes;

Lebanon (whiteness) is ashamed and decayed.

Sharon (a plain) is like a desert;

Bashan (fruitful) and Carmel (garden-land) shake off their leaves.

10“Now I will arise,” says the LORD {YHWH}.

“Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

11You⁺ conceive chaff; you⁺ give birth to stubble.

Your⁺ breath {ruachem} is a fire that will consume you⁺.

12The peoples will be burned to ashes,

like thorns cut down and set ablaze.

13You who are far off, hear what I have done;

you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

14The sinners in Zion are afraid;

trembling grips the ungodly:

“Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire?

Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

15He who walks righteously

and speaks with sincerity,

who refuses gain from extortion,

whose hand never takes a bribe,

who stops his ears against murderous plots

and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

16he will dwell on the heights;

the mountain fortress will be his refuge (height);

his food will be provided

and his water assured.

17Your eyes will see the King in His beauty

and behold a land that stretches afar.

18Your mind will ponder the former terror:

“Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs?

Where is he who counts the towers?”

19You will no longer see the insolent,

a people whose speech is unintelligible,

who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

20Look upon Zion,

the city of our appointed feasts.

Your eyes will see Jerusalem (city of peace),

a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander;

its tent pegs will not be pulled up,

nor will any of its cords be broken.

21But there the Majestic One, our LORD {YHWH},

will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals,

where no galley with oars will row,

and no majestic vessel will pass.

22For the LORD {YHWH} is our Judge,

the LORD is our lawgiver,

the LORD is our King.

It is He who will save us.

23Your ropes are slack;

they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail.

Then an abundance of spoils will be divided,

and even the lame will carry off plunder.

24And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.”

The people who dwell there

will be forgiven of iniquity.