The present distress and the future glory of Jerusalem

The distress

33 Woe to you, spoiler, whom none has despoiled;

you treacherous robber, whom no one has robbed.

When your spoiling is over, you too will be spoiled;

when your robbing is ended, you too will be robbed.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us,

we have waited for you;

be you our arm every morning,

our saviour in time of distress.

3 At the sound of the tumult the peoples are fled;

you lift yourself, and the nations are scattered.

4 (Your folk), like the locusts, will gather the booty,

over it swarming, as grasshoppers swarm.

5 The Lord is exalted, he dwells on high;

with justice and righteousness Zion he fills,

6 with wealth of salvation and wisdom and knowledge,

with treasure that flows the fear of the Lord.

7 The heroes of Ariel are crying without,

the envoys of peace shed bitter tears;

8 forlorn are the highways, the wayfarer ceases.

He has broken the compact and mocked at its witnesses,

utterly reckless of human kind.

9 The earth mourns and languishes,

Lebanon withers in shame:

Sharon is now like a desert,

and Bashan and Carmel are leafless.

The deliverance

10 But thus says the Lord, ‘Now I will arise;

yea now, even now, I will lift me on high.

11 You are pregnant with chaff, and your child will be stubble,

my breath will devour you like fire.

12 The nations will sink through the burning ashes,

like a thorns cut away, that are kindled with fire.

13 The men of far countries will hear of my doings,

and those who are near will acknowledge my might.’

14 The sinners in Zion are filled with terror,

and shuddering seizes the souls profane.

‘O who can dwell with devouring fire?

Who can dwell with eternal flame?’

15 Who walks in righteousness, speaks with honesty,

scorns the gain that is won by oppression;

whose hand refuses to clutch at a bribe,

who stops his ears at a tale of blood,

who closes his eyes at the sight of evil:

16 he it is who will dwell on impregnable heights.

On a fastness of rock his stronghold will be,

where his bread is provided, his water is sure.

17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty,

they will look on the land that stretches afar.

18 And thus you will muse on the (vanished) terror:

‘Where is he who once weighed, who once counted the tribute,

and he who once counted the towers (for assault)?’

19 No more you will look on the insolent people,

the people of dark and difficult speech,

who chatter a barbarous, meaningless tongue.

20 Look on the city of Zion,

the home of our festal assemblies;

your eyes will behold Jerusalem,

as a home of ease, a tent unremoved,

whose pegs will never be plucked from the ground,

and not one of whose cords will be snapped asunder.

21 In place of broad encompassing streams

will be there for our comfort the Lord’s own river,

a river where sails no fleet with oars,

and stately galleys pass not over.

22 For the Lord himself is our judge,

the Lord himself is our marshall,

the Lord himself is our king:

it is he, he alone, who will save us.

23 Then will the blind divide spoil in abundance,

and then will rich plunder be seized by the lame.

24 Nevermore will inhabitants say, ‘I am sick,’

for the sins of her people are all forgiven.