Song of Trust in God’s Protection

1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

He sets up salvation as walls and ramparts.

2“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,

The one that [a]remains faithful and trustworthy.

3“You will keep in [b]perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You--in both [c]inclination and character],

Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].

4“Trust [confidently] in the LORD forever [He is your fortress, your shield, your banner],

For the LORD GOD is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

5“For He has thrown down the [arrogant] ones who dwell on high, the lofty and inaccessible city;

He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He hurls it to the dust.

6“The foot will trample it,

Even the feet of the suffering, and the steps of the helpless.”

7The way of the righteous [those in right-standing with God--living in moral and spiritual integrity] is smooth and level;

O Upright One, make a level path for the just and righteous.

8Indeed, in the path of Your judgments, O LORD,

We have waited expectantly for You;

Your name, even Your memory, is the desire and deep longing of our souls.

9In the night my soul longs for You [O LORD],

Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;

For [only] when Your judgments are experienced on the earth

Will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10Though the wicked is shown compassion and favor,

He does not learn righteousness;

In the land of uprightness he deals unjustly,

And refuses to see the majesty of the LORD.

11Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O LORD, the wicked do not see it.

Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame;

Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.

12LORD, You will establish peace for us,

Since You have also performed for us all that we have done.

13O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled over us;

But through You alone we confess Your name.

14The [wicked] dead will not live [again], the spirits of the dead will not rise and return;

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,

And You have wiped out every memory of them [every trace of them].

15You have increased the nation, O LORD;

You have increased the nation, You are glorified;

You have extended all the borders of the land.

16O LORD, they sought You in distress;

They managed only a prayerful whisper

When Your discipline was upon them.

17As a woman with child approaches the time to give birth,

She is in pain and struggles and cries out in her labor,

So we were before You, O LORD.

18We have been with child, we have twisted and struggled in labor;

We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.

We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,

Nor were inhabitants of the world [d]born.

19Your dead will live;

[e]Their dead bodies will rise.

You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy!

For your dew is a dew of [celestial] light [heavenly, supernatural],

And the earth will give birth to the spirits of the dead.

20Come, my people, enter your chambers

And shut your doors behind you;

Hide for a little while

Until the [LORD’S] [f]wrath is past.

21Listen carefully, the LORD is about to come out of His [heavenly] place

To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];

The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon her

And will no longer cover her slain.

[a] 2 Lit keeps trustworthiness.
[b] 3 Lit peace, peace, a Hebrew idiom of emphasis.
[c] 3 The Hebrew word for inclination became a technical term in Jewish tradition, and the rabbis frequently referred to the “evil inclination” much in the same sense as the sin nature. They also recognized a “good inclination,” which the righteous choose to follow, and urged people to make their good inclination king over the evil inclination.
[d] 18 Lit fallen.
[e] 19 So with some ancient versions; MT reads My dead body.
[f] 20 Lit curse.