Chapter 26

But in the land of Juda, when that day comes, what shall their song be? Sion is ours, an impregnable fortress; divine protection it has for wall and breast-work;

wide let its gates be opened, to welcome true hearts that still keep troth with him.

Our thoughts wayward no longer, thou wilt maintain us in peace, peace that comes surely to those who trust in thee.

Yours to trust in the Lord continually, the Lord that is evermore your protection.

Mountain-dwellers he can bring low, towering city walls he can level, level them with the ground, drag them down to the dust.

There they lie, trodden under foot; poor folk trample on them now, the disinherited spurn them as they pass.

Where heart is true, path lies plain; level the road he treads that wins acceptance with thee.

And we, Lord, we have kept to the path thou hadst decreed for us, waiting for thee still; longing we had none but for thy greater renown.

All through the night my soul has yearned for thee, to thee my heart aspires, watching for the dawn; soon thou wilt execute thy decrees on earth, and the whole world shall know how just thou art.

The godless will not learn that lesson from mercy shewn him; in a land that is all holiness, they will pervert justice still, no eyes for the Lord’s majesty.

Hand of thine which threatened them, heed they would not; heed now they must, those envious eyes, and to their own confusion; they shall see fire consume thy enemies!

Thou wilt busy thyself, Lord, to make peace for us; what achievement of ours but the doing of it is thine?

O Lord our God, masters we have had a many in place of thee, but only thy name shall be held in remembrance;

live they cannot nor revive, gone down to death with the heroes of long ago; thou hast called them to account, and made an end of them, till the very memory of their names has vanished.

Didst thou win thyself honour, Lord, when thou didst shew favour, such high favour, to thy people, when thou didst enlarge all the frontiers of its land?

No, Lord, it was in affliction they turned back to thee; in silent hours of suffering thy chastisement reached them.

We were no better than woman with child that is near her time, ready to cry out dolorously in her pangs; such lot thou hadst given us.

Conceived we, aye, and travailed, yet nothing brought forth but wind; not through us came deliverance to our country, not through us were the peoples of the world cast down.

Fresh life they shall have, Lord, that are thine in death; lost to us, they shall live again. Awake and utter your praises, you that dwell in the dust. The dew thou sendest, Lord, shall bring light to them; only the land of dead heroes thou wilt doom to overthrow.

Up then, my people, to your innermost chambers betake you; shut yourselves within doors; hide for a little, until the time of retribution is past.

See, where the Lord comes out from his dwelling-place, holds the nations of the world to account for their guilt! Earth shall disclose the blood spilt on it, and no more cover its dead.