1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God has made salvation its walls and ramparts.

2Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

3The mind that is stayed on you, you will keep him in perfect peace, for he trusts in you.

4Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting rock.

5For he will bring down those who live proudly; the fortified city
he will lay low, he will lay low to the ground; he will level it to the dust.

6It will be trampled down by the feet of the poor and the treading of the needy.

7The path of the righteous is level, Righteous One; the path of the righteous you make straight.

8Yes, in the path of your judgments, Yahweh, we wait for you;
your name and your reputation are our desire.

9I have longed for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me seeks you earnestly.
For when your judgments come on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn about righteousness.

10Let favor be shown to the wicked one, but he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he acts wickedly
and does not see the majesty of Yahweh.

11Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, but they do not notice.
But they will see your zeal for the people and be put to shame, because fire of your adversaries will devour them.

12Yahweh, you will bring about peace for us; for indeed, you have also accomplished all our works for us.

13Yahweh our God, other masters besides you have ruled over us; but we praise your name alone.

14They are dead, they will not live; they are deceased, they will not arise.
Indeed, you came in judgment and destroyed them, and made every memory of them to perish.

15You have increased the nation, Yahweh, you have increased the nation; you are honored;
you have extended all the borders of the land.

16Yahweh, in trouble have they looked to you; they whispered prayers when your discipline was on them. ¹⁵

17As a pregnant woman nears the time for her to give birth,
when she is in pain and cries out in her labor pains,
so we have been before you, Lord.

18We have been pregnant, we have been in labor, but it is as if we have only given birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

19Your dead will live; their dead bodies will arise. Awake and sing for joy, you who live in the dust;
for your dew is the dew of light, and the earth will bring forth its dead.

20Go, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors behind you;
hide for a little while, until the indignation has passed by.

21For, look, Yahweh is about to come out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
the earth will uncover her bloodshed, and will no longer conceal her slain.