A Song of Trust in the LORD's Protection

261 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation doth he appoint for walls and bulwarks. 2 Open ye the gates, and the righteous nation which keepeth faithfulness shall enter in. 3 Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the mind stayed [on thee], for he confideth in thee. 4 Confide ye in Jehovah for ever; for in Jah, Jehovah, is the rock of ages.

5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low, he layeth it low to the ground, he bringeth it even to the dust. 6 The foot shall tread it down,—the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the poor. 7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, the Upright, dost make the path of the just even. 8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; the desire of [our] soul is to thy name, and to thy memorial. 9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 If favour be shewn to the wicked, he doth not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness he dealeth unjustly, and beholdeth not the majesty of Jehovah. 11 Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, but they do not see: [yet] they shall see [thy] jealousy [for] the people, and be ashamed; yea, the fire which is for thine adversaries shall devour them.

12 Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works for us. 13 Jehovah our God, other lords than thee have had dominion over us; by thee only will we make mention of thy name. 14 [They are] dead, they shall not live; deceased, they shall not rise: for thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish. 15 Thou hast increased the nation, Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified. Thou hadst removed [it] far [unto] all the ends of the earth. 16 Jehovah, in trouble they sought thee; they poured out [their] whispered prayer when thy chastening was upon them. 17 As a woman with child, that draweth near her delivery, is in travail, [and] crieth out in her pangs; so have we been before thee, Jehovah. 18 We have been with child, we have been in travail, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought the deliverance of the land, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing in triumph, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is the dew of the morning, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself just for a little moment, until the indignation be past. 21 For behold, Jehovah cometh out of his place to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them; and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

The LORD's Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

31 For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, 2 the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the elder, 3 the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the clever among artificers, and the one versed in enchantments. 4 And I will appoint youths as their princes, and children shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable. 6 When a man shall take hold of his brother, in his father's house, [and shall say:] Thou hast clothing; be our chief, and let this ruin be under thy hand; 7 he will lift up [his hand] in that day, saying, I cannot be a healer, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; ye shall not make me a chief of the people. 8 For Jerusalem stumbleth and Judah falleth, because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

9 The look of their face doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom: they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have brought evil upon themselves. 10 Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well [with him], for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill [with him], because the desert of his hands shall be rendered unto him. 12 [As for] my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people! they that guide thee mislead [thee], and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 Jehovah setteth himself to plead, and standeth to judge the peoples. 14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their princes, [saying:] It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15 What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Judgment on the Daughters of Zion

16 And Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-out neck and wanton eyes, and go along mincing, and making a tinkling with their feet; 17 therefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts. 18 In that day the Lord will take away the ornament of anklets, and the little suns and crescents, 19 the pearl-drops, and the bracelets, and the veils, 20 the head-dresses, and the stepping chains, and the girdles, and the scent-boxes, and the amulets; 21 the finger-rings, and the nose-rings; 22 the festival-robes, and the tunics, and the mantles, and the wallets; 23 the mirrors, and the fine linen bodices, and the turbans, and the flowing veils. 24 And it shall come to pass, instead of perfume there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe of display, a girding of sackcloth; brand instead of beauty. 25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the fight; 26 and her gates shall lament and mourn; and, stripped, she shall sit upon the ground.