Yahweh Is Exalted

1Woe, O destroyer, even you never destroyed,

and you treacherous one, and they have never betrayed him!

At the completion of your destroying,

you will be destroyed;

as you finish being treacherous,

they will deal treacherously with you.

2O YHWH, show favor to us;

we wait for You!

Be their arm in the mornings,

also our salvation in the time of distress.

3From the voice of roaring the peoples will flee,

from Your rising up the nations will be scattered.

4Your⁺ plunder will be gathered as gathers the locust;

as the rushing of locusts shall he run upon it.

5YHWH is exalted, for He dwells on high;

He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6He will be the steadfastness of your times,

and a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge—

the fear of YHWH is his treasure.

7Behold, “Their Ariel” they have cried outside;

the messengers of peace do weep bitterly.

8For the highways are desolate,

the road has ceased from those traveling.

He has broken the covenant;†

he has despised the witnesses;†

he has not regarded man.

9The land mourns and languishes;

Lebanon is ashamed and decays;

Sharon has become like the Arabah,

and Bashan and Carmel shake off.

10“Now I will arise,” says YHWH;

“Now I will be exalted, now I will lift Myself up!

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

Your⁺ breath like a fire will devour you⁺.

12And the people will be like the burnings of lime,

cut thorns, they will be burned in the fire.

13Hear, far away ones, what I have done,

and acknowledge, near ones, My might.”

14The sinful ones in Zion are afraid,

trembling has seized the godless:

“Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire?

Who of us can dwell with burnings” forever?

15The one walking righteously

and speaking uprightly;

the one rejecting the gain of oppression,

shaking his hands away from grasping at a bribe;

the one shutting his ears from hearing of bloodshed

and closing his eyes from looking at evil;

16He will dwell on the heights;

strongholds in the cliffs are his refuge;

his bread will be given,

his water will be sure.

17Your eyes will gaze at the King in His beauty;

they will see a land faraway.

18Your heart will ponder the terror:

“Where is the one counting? Where is the one weighing?

Where is the one counting the towers?”

19A fierce people you will not see,

a people in the depths of speech, beyond hearing,

a stammering of the tongue without understanding.

20Look upon Zion,

the city of our appointed feasts;

let your eyes look on Jerusalem—

a quiet abode, a tent that does not wander;

will not be pulled out one of its pegs forever,

and all of its cords cannot be broken.

21But there YHWH is majestic for us,

a place of rivers and streams broad of hands,

where no fleet with oar shall go on it,

and a majestic ship will not pass over it.

22For YHWH is the One judging us;

YHWH is the One decreeing for us;

YHWH is our King;

He will save us.

23Your ropes are slack—

they cannot hold the firmness of their mast; they cannot spread out the sail.

Then the prey will be divided, plunder in great abundance—

even the lame will seize the spoils!

24And the dweller will not say “I am sick;”

for the people dwelling in it

will be lifted of iniquity.