Isaiah 1:1-27:3

Common English Bible

⁴ Doom! Sinful nation, people weighed down with crimes,
    evildoing offspring, corrupt children!
They have abandoned the Lord,
    despised the holy one of Israel;
    they turned their backs on God.

⁵ Why do you invite further beatings?
    Why continue to rebel?
Everyone’s head throbs,
    and everyone’s heart fails.
⁶ From head to toe, none are well—
    only bruises, cuts, and raw wounds,
        not treated, not bandaged,
        not soothed with oil.

⁷ Your country is deserted,
    your cities burned with fire;
    your land—strangers are devouring it in plain sight.
    It’s a wasteland, as when foreigners raid.
⁸ Daughter Zion is left like a small shelter in a vineyard,
    like a hut in a cucumber field,
    like a city besieged.^[a]
9 If the Lord of heavenly forces had not spared a few of us,
    we would be like Sodom; we would resemble Gomorrah.

¹⁸ Come now, and let’s settle this,
    says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they will be white as snow.
If they are red as crimson,
    they will become like wool.
¹⁹ If you agree and obey,
    you will eat the best food of the land.
²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel,
    you will be devoured by the sword.
The Lord has said this.

²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by justice,
    and those who change their lives by righteousness.
²⁸ But God will shatter rebels and sinners alike;
    those who abandon the Lord will be finished.

²⁹ You will be ashamed of the oaks you once desired,
    and embarrassed by the gardens you once chose.
³⁰ You will be like an oak with withering leaves,
    like a garden without water.
³¹ The strong will be like dry twigs,
        their deeds like sparks;
    the two will burn together,
    with no one to extinguish them.

⁵ Come, house of Jacob,
    let’s walk by the Lord’s light.

⁹ Humanity will be brought down;
    each person laid low—don’t lift them up!^[d]
10 Go into the rocks,
    and hide yourself in the dust from the terror of the Lord,
    from the splendor of God’s majesty!
¹¹ People’s proud gazing will be stopped
    and humanity’s arrogance brought down;
    the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

¹² The Lord of heavenly forces has planned a day:
    against all that is prideful and haughty;
    against all that is lofty, and it will be laid low;^[e]
13     against all the cedars of Lebanon, high and lofty;
    against all the oaks of Bashan;
¹⁴     against all the high mountains;
    against all the lofty hills;
¹⁵     against every tall tower;
    against every fortified wall;
¹⁶     against all the ships of Tarshish;
    against all the wonderful boats.^[f]
17 People’s pride will be brought down
    and human arrogance humiliated.
The Lord alone will be exalted on that day;
¹⁸     the idols will completely pass away.

¹⁹ Go into caves in the rocks
    and holes in the dust
        before the terror of the Lord
        and the splendor of God’s majesty,
        when he arises to terrify the earth.
²⁰ On that day, people will toss
        to the rodents^[g] and to the bats
    their idols of silver and idols of gold,
        which they made for themselves to worship.
²¹ They will hide in fissures of rocks and in crevices of cliffs
    before the terror of the Lord
    and the splendor of God’s majesty
    when he arises to terrify the earth.

²² Quit admiring the human race,
    who breathe through their nostrils.
    Why should they be admired?

⁶ Someone will seize a family member, saying, “You have clothing! You be our leader!
This mess will be your responsibility!”
⁷ Someone else will cry out on that day,
    “I’m no healer!
    I have neither food nor clothing in my house!
    Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

⁸ Yes, Jerusalem has stumbled
    and Judah has fallen,
        because the way they talk and act in word and deed insults the Lord,
        defying his brilliant glory.
⁹ Their bias in judgment gives them away;
    like Sodom, they display their sins in public.
    Doom to them, for they have done themselves in!
¹⁰ Tell the righteous how blessed they are;
    they will eat the fruit of their labors.
¹¹ Doom to the wicked; they are evil.
    What they have done will be done to them.
¹² As for my people—oppressors strip them
    and swindlers^[h] rule them.
My people—your leaders mislead you and confuse your paths.

¹³ The Lord arises to accuse;
    he stands to judge the peoples.
¹⁴ The Lord will enter into judgment
    with the elders and princes of his people:
You yourselves have devoured the vineyard;
    the goods stolen from the poor are in your houses.
¹⁵ How dare you crush my people
    and grind the faces of the poor?
    says the Lord God of heavenly forces.

¹⁶ The Lord says:
Because Zion’s daughters applaud themselves,
    walking with their chins in the air,
    flirting with their eyes,
    tiptoeing as they walk, feet jingling—
¹⁷     the Lord will shave the heads of Zion’s daughters,
    and will expose their scalps.
¹⁸ On that day, the Lord will remove:
    the splendid ankle chains; headbands and moon-shaped pendants;
¹⁹     the earrings, bracelets, and veils;
²⁰     the hats, bangles, and sashes;
    the amulets and charms;
²¹     the signet rings and nose rings;
²²     the robes and capes;
    the shawls and handbags;
²³     the mirrors and linen garments;
    the turbans and the veils.
²⁴ Instead of perfume there will be a disgusting odor;
    instead of a sash, a rope;
    instead of styled hair, shaved heads;
    instead of expensive clothes, rags as mourning clothes;
    instead of beauty, shame.^[i]

²⁵ Your men will fall by the sword,
    your warriors in battle!
²⁶ Her gates will lament and mourn;
    desolate, she will sit on the ground.

¹¹ Doom to those who wake up early in the morning to run after beer,
    to those who stay up late, lit up by wine.
¹² They party with lyre and harp, tambourine, flute, and wine;
    but they ignore the Lord’s work;
        they can’t see what God is doing.

¹³ Therefore, my people go into exile since they didn’t understand—
    their officials are dying of hunger;
    so many of them are dried up with thirst.
¹⁴ Therefore, the grave^[l] opens wide its jaws,
    opens its mouth beyond all bounds,
    and the splendid multitudes will go down, with all their uproar and cheering.
¹⁵ Humanity will be humiliated;
    each person laid low,
    the eyes of the exalted laid low.
¹⁶ But the Lord of heavenly forces will be exalted in justice,
    and the holy God will show himself holy in righteousness.
¹⁷ Lambs will graze as if in their pasture;
    young goats^[m] will feed among the ruins of the rich.^[n]

¹⁸ Doom to those who drag guilt along with cords of fraud,
    and haul sin as if with cart ropes,
¹⁹     who say, “God should hurry and work faster so we can see;
    let the plan of Israel’s holy one come quickly, so we can understand it.”

²⁰ Doom to those who call evil good and good evil,
    who present darkness as light and light as darkness,
    who make bitterness sweet and sweetness bitter.

²¹ Doom to those
who consider themselves wise,
    who think of themselves as clever.

²² Doom to the wine-swigging warriors,
    mighty at mixing drinks,
²³     who spare the guilty for bribes,
    and rob the innocent of their rights.
²⁴ Therefore, as a tongue of fire devours stubble,
    and as hay shrivels in a flame,
        so their roots will rot,
        and their blossoms turn to dust,
    for they have rejected the teaching of the Lord of heavenly forces,
        and have despised the word of Israel’s holy one.

²⁶ God will raise a signal to a nation from far away
    and whistle to them from the end of the earth—
    now look—hurrying, swiftly they come!
²⁷ Not one is tired; not one stumbles;
    they don’t rest or sleep;
    no belt is loose; no sandal broken;
²⁸     their arrows are sharp;
    all their bows drawn;
    their horses’ hooves are like flint;
    their wheels like the whirlwind.
²⁹     Their roaring is like the lion;
    they roar like young lions;
    they growl, seize their prey,
    and carry it off, with no one to rescue.
³⁰ On that day, they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks toward the land, there’s darkness.
    Tyre and the Nile will be darkened by the clouds.^[o]

¹³ But the people didn’t turn to the one who struck them.
    They didn’t seek the Lord of heavenly forces.
¹⁴ So the Lord cut off head and tail,
    palm branch and reed from Israel in one day.
¹⁵     (Elders and celebrities are the head;
    prophets who teach lies are the tail.)
¹⁶ But this people’s leaders were misleading,
    and those being led were confused.
¹⁷ So the Lord showed their youth no pity,
    and showed their orphans and widows no mercy;
    for everyone was godless and evil;
        every mouth spoke nonsense.
Even then God’s anger didn’t turn away;
    God’s hand was still extended.

¹⁸ Wickedness burned like fire,
    devouring thorn and thistle.
It kindled the thickets of the forest;
    they swirled in rising smoke.
¹⁹ The land was scorched by the rage of the Lord of heavenly forces;
    the people were like fuel for the fire.
Not one person pitied another:
²⁰     they consumed on the right, but remained hungry;
    devoured on the left, and weren’t satisfied.
    They devoured the flesh of their own children.^[af]
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh;
    together they turned against Judah.
Even then God’s anger didn’t turn away;
    God’s hand was still extended.

¹⁵ Will the ax glorify itself over the one who chops with it?
    Or will the saw magnify itself over its user?
As if a rod could wave the one who lifts it!
    As if a staff could lift up the one not made of wood!
¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord God of heavenly forces
    will make the well-fed people waste away;
    and among his officials,
    a blaze will burn like scorching fire.
¹⁷ The light of Israel will become a fire,
    its holy one a flame,
    which will burn and devour
    its thorns and thistles
    in a single day.
¹⁸ Its abundant forest and farmland
    will be finished completely,^[ah]
    as when a sick person wastes away;
¹⁹     its forest’s remaining trees will be no more than a child can count.

³ You will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.
⁴ And you will say on that day:
“Thank the Lord; call on God’s name;
    proclaim God’s deeds among the peoples;
    declare that God’s name is exalted.
⁵ Sing to the Lord, who has done glorious things;
    proclaim this throughout all the earth.”
⁶ Shout and sing for joy, city of Zion,
    because the holy one of Israel is great among you.

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near.
    Like destruction from the Almighty^[ar] it will come.
⁷ Then all hands will fall limp;
    every human heart will melt,
⁸     and they will be terrified.
Like a woman writhing in labor,
    they will be seized by spasms and agony.
They will look at each other aghast,
    their faces blazing.

⁹ Look, the day of the Lord is coming with cruel rage and burning anger,
    making the earth a ruin,
    and wiping out its sinners.
¹⁰ Heaven’s stars and constellations won’t show their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises;
    the moon will no longer shine.
¹¹ I will bring disaster upon the world for its evil,
    and bring their own sin upon the wicked.
I will end the pride of the insolent,
    and the conceit of tyrants I will lay low.
¹² I will make humans scarcer than fine gold;
    people rarer than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ I will rattle the heavens;
    the earth will shake loose from its place—because of the rage
    of the Lord of heavenly forces
        on the day his anger burns.
¹⁴ They will be like hunted gazelles, like sheep without a shepherd;
    all will turn to their own people
    and flee to their own lands.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be stabbed;
    whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be crushed before their eyes;
    their houses plundered, their women raped.

¹⁷ Look! I’m rousing the Medes against them;
    the Medes pay no mind to silver, no desire for gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will smash youths;
    they will be merciless to newborns, pitiless to children.
¹⁹ So Babylon, a jewel among kingdoms,
    the Chaldeans’ splendor and pride,
    will be like Sodom and Gomorrah,
        destroyed by God.
²⁰ No one will ever resettle
    or live there for generations.
No Arab will camp there;
    no shepherds will rest flocks there.
²¹ Wildcats will rest there;
    houses will be filled with owls.
Ostriches will live there,
    and goat demons will dance there.
²² Hyenas will howl in its strongholds,
    and jackals in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s^[as] time is coming soon;
    its days won’t drag on.

⁷ All the earth rests quietly,
    then it breaks into song.
⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice over you,
    the cedars of Lebanon:
    “Since you were laid low,
        no logger comes up against us!”

⁹ The underworld^[av] beneath becomes restless to greet your arrival.
It awakens the ghosts,
    all the leaders of earth;
it makes the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.
¹⁰ All of them speak and say to you:
    “Even you’ve become weak like we are!
    You are the same as us!”
¹¹ Your majesty has been brought down to the underworld,^[aw]
    along with the sound of your harps.
Under you is a bed of maggots,
    and worms are your blanket.

¹² How you’ve fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of dawn!
You are cut down to earth,
    helpless on your back!
¹³ You said to yourself, I will climb up to heaven;
    above God’s stars, I will raise my throne.
I’ll sit on the mount of assembly,
    on the heights of Zaphon.
¹⁴ I’ll go up to the cloud tops;
    I’ll be like the Most High!
¹⁵ But down to the underworld^[ax] you are brought,
    to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you;
        they will examine you closely:
    “Is this the man who rattled the earth,
        who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷         who made the world a wasteland
        and tore down its cities,
        and wouldn’t let his prisoners go home?”
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie down honored,
        all of them, each in his own tomb.
¹⁹     But you are cast away from your own grave
        like a rejected branch,
        covered by the dead
        and those pierced by the sword—
        who go down to the stony pit—
        like a trampled corpse.
²⁰ You won’t join them in burial,
    for you destroyed your own land;
    you killed your own people.
Such evil offspring will never be mentioned again!

16 Send lambs to the ruler of the land,^[bc]
    from Sela through the desert
    to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
² The daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon are like orphaned birds pushed from the nest.
³ Consider carefully, act justly;
    at high noon provide your shade like night.
Hide the outcasts;
    keep the fugitives hidden.
⁴ Let the outcasts of Moab live among you.
    Be a hiding place for them from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
    when destruction has ceased,
    when the trampler has vanished from the land,
⁵     a throne will be established based on goodness,
        and someone will sit faithfully on it in David’s dwelling^[bd]—
    a judge who seeks justice and timely righteousness.

⁶ We have heard of Moab’s pride,
    his great pride,
    his outrageous pride and arrogance,
    his empty boasting.
⁷ Therefore, let Moab wail;
    let everyone wail for Moab.
    Let them moan, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
⁸ The fields of Heshbon languish.
    The vines of Sibmah,
        whose honored grapes overpowered masters of nations,
    had reached as far as Jazer and strayed to the desert.
    Their tendrils spread out and crossed the sea.
⁹ Therefore, I will weep with Jazer’s weeping for the vines of Sibmah.
    I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh.
Cheers have fallen silent concerning your summer fruit and your grain harvest.
¹⁰ Joy and happiness have been harvested from the farmland,
    and in the vineyards no one sings, no one shouts.
No treader crushes grapes in the wine vats;
    I have brought the cheers to an end.
¹¹ Therefore, my heart plays sadly like a harp for Moab,
    my inner being for Kir-heres.
¹² Even if Moab presents himself,
    and Moab wears himself out going to the shrine,
    and comes to his sanctuary to pray,
        he won’t prevail.

⁴ On that day, Jacob’s glory will dwindle;
    his sleek body will waste away.
⁵ It will be as when harvesters gather grain.
    God will harvest armfuls at a time,
    like one who gathers grain
    in the Rephaim Valley.
⁶ Only remaining bits are left,
        like an olive tree that has been shaken:
    two or three olives on the highest branch;
        four or five on a fruitful twig,
        says the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ On that day, people will have regard for their maker,
    and their eyes will look to the holy one of Israel.
⁸ They will have no regard for altars,
    the work of their hands,
    or look to what their fingers made:
    sacred poles^[bg] and incense stands.

¹² Doom to the raging of many peoples;
    like the thundering seas they thunder.
    Doom to the roar of nations,
        like the roaring of mighty waters.
¹³     Nations roar like the roaring of rushing waters.
But God will rebuke them,
    and they will flee far away,
    pursued like chaff by wind in the mountains,
    like tumbleweeds before a storm.
¹⁴ In the evening, there is terror;
    but before morning it is gone.
This is the fate of those who loot us,
    the destiny of those who rob us.

³ All you who inhabit the world,
        who live on earth,
    when a signal is raised on the mountains, you will see!
        When the trumpet blasts, you will hear!
⁴ The Lord said to me:
    I will quietly watch from my own place,
    like the shimmering heat of sunshine,
    like a cloud’s shade in the harvest heat.
⁵ Before the harvest, when the bloom is finished, when the blossom is becoming
a ripening fruit,
    God will cut the shoots with a pruning knife,
    and lop off the spreading branches.
⁶     They will all be left to the mountain birds
        and to the beasts of the land.
    The birds will eat them in summer,
    all the beasts of the land in winter.

⁷ At that time, gifts will be brought to the Lord of heavenly forces
    from a tall and clean-shaven people
    and from a people feared near and far,
    a nation barbaric and oppressive,
    whose land the rivers divide,
        to the place of the name of the Lord of heavenly forces,
        to Mount Zion.

⁵ The waters of the sea will dry up;
    the river will be parched and bare.
⁶ The rivers will stink;
    the streams will shrink and dry;
    reeds and rushes will decay.
⁷ Grass around the Nile, the grass at the mouth of the Nile,
    and all the sown land of the Nile
    will dry up, blow away, and be no more.
⁸ Those who fish will lament;
    all who cast fishhooks in the Nile will mourn,
    and those who spread nets on the water will pine away.
⁹ Workers with flax will be dismayed;
    carders and weavers will grow pale.^[bi]
10 Makers of cloth will be crushed;
    all who earn money will become distressed.

¹¹ The officials of Tanis are fools;
    the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors give stupid advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I’m a wise person,
    one of the ancient kings”?
¹² Where now are your wise ones?
    Let them tell you,
    let them inform you what the Lord of heavenly forces has planned concerning Egypt.
¹³ The officials of Tanis have become fools;
    the princes of Memphis are deluded;
    the tribal chiefs have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴     The Lord has poured into them a spirit of confusion.
    They will make Egypt stumble in everything it does,
    just as a drunk stumbles in his vomit.
¹⁵ Neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed
    will be able to do anything for Egypt.

⁶ The Lord said this to me:
    “Go, post a lookout to report what he sees.
⁷ When he sees chariots, pairs of horsemen,
    donkey riders, camel riders,
    he should listen carefully,
        carefully, very carefully.”

⁸ Then the seer^[bk] called out:
“Upon a watchtower, Lord,
        I’m standing all day;
    and upon my observation post
        I’m stationed throughout the night.
⁹ Here they come:
    charioteers, pairs of horsemen!”
One spoke up and said,
    “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
        and all the images of her gods
        are shattered on the ground!”
¹⁰ Oh, my downtrodden people, threshed on my threshing floor,
    what I heard from the Lord of heavenly forces,
    the God of Israel, I reported to you.

¹³ An oracle about the desert.
In the woods, in the desert where you camp,
    caravans of the Dedanites ¹⁴ meet the thirsty with water;
    inhabitants of the land of Tema greet the refugees with bread.
¹⁵ They have fled from swords,
    from the drawn sword,
    from the bent bow
    and from the intensity of battle.

On that day, you trusted the weapons in the Forest House.
⁹     You observed the many broken defenses in David’s City,
    and you collected the waters of the lower pool.
¹⁰ You counted Jerusalem’s houses,
    and you tore down houses to fortify the wall.
¹¹ You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the earlier pool.
    But you didn’t trust its maker;
    you didn’t consider the one who planned it long ago.

¹² The Lord God of heavenly forces called on that day
    for weeping and mourning, and shaven heads, and wearing of mourning clothes.
¹³ But instead there was
    fun and frivolity,
    killing of cattle
    and slaughtering of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine:
    “Eat and drink! Tomorrow we will die!”
¹⁴ But the Lord of heavenly forces has revealed in my hearing:
    This iniquity won’t be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord God of heavenly forces.

    He is surely going to cover you with darkness;
¹⁸     he will indeed unroll your head wrapping,
        rolling it like a ball into the open country.
        There you will die, with your glorious chariots,
        you disgrace to the house of your master!
¹⁹ I will thrust you from your monument;
    you will be pulled down from your platform.
²⁰ On that day, I will call my servant
    Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son.
²¹ I will give him your robe and wrap him in your sash,
    and I will hand over to him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and to the house of Judah.
²² I will place the key to David’s house on his shoulder;
    what he opens no one will close,
    and what he closes no one will open.
²³ I will fasten him securely like a tent peg,
    and he will be a throne of honor for his ancestors’ house.

¹⁰ Go through your own land, Daughter Tarshish,
    for the harbor^[bp] is gone.
¹¹ God’s hand is extended over the sea, shaking nations.
The Lord gave the command to destroy Phoenicia’s fortresses,
¹²     saying, You will no longer celebrate,
    violated virgin Daughter Sidon.
Get up and head to Cyprus;
    even there you will find no rest.
¹³ Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
    the people who are no more.
Assyria destined it for wild animals:
    they raised up their siege towers,
    stripped its palaces,
    and made it a ruin.
¹⁴ Wail, ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress is destroyed!

⁴ The earth dries up and wilts;
    the world withers and wilts;
    the heavens wither away with the earth.
⁵ The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants,
    for they have disobeyed instruction,
    swept aside law,
    and broken the ancient covenant.
⁶ Therefore, a curse devours the earth; its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.
Therefore, the earth’s inhabitants dwindle; very few are left.

⁷ The wine dries up;
    the vine withers;
    all the merry-hearted groan.
⁸ The joyous tambourines have ceased;
    the roar of partiers has stopped;
    the joyous harp has ceased.
⁹ No one drinks wine or sings;
    beer is bitter to its drinkers.
¹⁰ The town is in chaos, broken;
    every house is shut, without entrance.
¹¹ There is a cry for wine in the streets.
    All joy has reached its dusk;
    happiness is exiled from the earth.
¹² Ruin remains in the city,
    and the gate is battered to wreckage.
¹³ It will be like this in the central part of the land and among the peoples,
    like an olive tree that has been shaken,
    like remains from the grape harvest.

¹⁴ They raise their voice;
    they sing with joy;
    from the west they will shout about the Lord’s majesty.
¹⁵ Therefore, in the east honor the Lord;
    in the islands of the sea,
    the name of the Lord God of Israel!
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
    “Glory to the righteous one!”
But I say, “I waste away; I waste away;
    I’m doomed!
    Betrayers betray; treacherously betrayers betray.”

¹⁷ Terror, trench, and trap are upon you,
    ruler of the earth!
¹⁸ Whoever flees from the sound of terror will fall into the trench;
    whoever climbs from the trench will be caught in the trap.

Heaven’s windows will open, and the earth’s foundations will quake.
¹⁹ The earth is shattering, shattering;
    the earth is shaking, shaking;
    the earth is teetering, tottering.
²⁰ The earth trembles like a drunk
    and shudders like a hut;
    its rebellion weighs heavy upon it;
    it will fall, no more to rise.

⁶ On this mountain,
    the Lord of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples
        a rich feast, a feast of choice wines,
        of select foods rich in flavor,
        of choice wines well refined.
⁷ He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples,
    the shroud enshrouding all nations.
⁸ He will swallow up death^[br] forever.
The Lord God will wipe tears from every face;
    he will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth,
        for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ They will say on that day,
“Look! This is our God,
    for whom we have waited—
    and he has saved us!
This is the Lord, for whom we have waited;
    let’s be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
¹⁰     The Lord’s hand will indeed rest on this mountain.

Moab will be trampled down
    as straw is trampled into manure.
¹¹ When in it they spread out their hands
    as swimmers spread out their hands to swim,
    God will lay low their pride, even by the efforts of their hands.
¹² The fortified towers of their^[bs] walls
    will be thrown down, will be leveled,
    will be brought down to the earth, to the dust.

⁷ The way of the righteous is level;
    you clear a path for the righteous.
⁸ In the path of your justice, Lord, we wait for you;
with all our being, we long for your name and your acclaim.
⁹     At night I long for you with my whole being;
    my spirit within me watches for you.
When your judgments are at work in the earth,
    those living in the world learn righteousness.
¹⁰ When the wicked are favored, they don’t learn righteousness;
    even among those who do right they do wrong,
    and they fail to see the Lord’s majesty.
¹¹ Lord, your hand is lifted up,
    but they don’t see.
    Let them see and shrink back because of your zeal for your people;
    your burning anger that consumes your enemies.

¹² Lord, grant us peace,
    because all that we have done has been your doing.
¹³ Lord our God, other masters besides you have ruled us,
    but we will profess your name alone.
¹⁴ The dead don’t live; ghosts don’t rise.
    Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them,
    and abolished all memory of them.
¹⁵ You’ve enlarged the nation, Lord.
    You’ve enlarged the nation; you are glorified.
    You’ve expanded all the land’s boundaries.
¹⁶ Lord, in distress they sought you out;
    they poured out prayers to you when you disciplined them.
¹⁷ As a pregnant woman close to childbirth is in labor pains,
    crying out in her pangs,
    so were we because of you, Lord.
¹⁸ We were pregnant, we writhed,
but we gave birth to wind.
We have achieved no victories on earth;
    the inhabitants of the earth never fall.

¹⁹ Your dead will live, their^[bt] corpses will rise,
    and those who dwell in the dust will shout for joy.
Your shadow is a shadow of light,
    but you will bring down the ghosts into the underworld.
²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you.
    Take cover, for in a little while the fury will be over.
²¹ Look! The Lord is going out from his place
    to bring the iniquity of the ruler of the earth down upon him.
The earth will uncover its blood
    and will conceal its slain no longer.