Chapter 26

Trust in God, Exhortation to righteousness


1

In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

2

Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

3

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.

4

Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

5

For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

6

The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.

7

The way of the just is uprightness; thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

8

Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee.

9

With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early; for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10

Let favor be showed to the wicked; yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

11

Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

12

Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

13

O Lord, our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

14

They are dead; they shall not live; they are deceased; they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited, and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

15

Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord; thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified; thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

16

Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17

Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.

18

We have been with child; we have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19

Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20

Come, my people; enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation be overpast.

21

For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain.