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¹ WOE to you that plunder, but you shall not plunder, and let no one deal treacherously among you; for when you seek to plunder, they will plunder you; and when you seek to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.² O LORD, be gracious to us; for in thee is our trust; be thou our helper every morning, our salvation also in the time of distress.³ At the noise of thy tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.⁴ Henceforth your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar; as a swarm of locusts when it is gathered together.⁵ The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.⁶ And faith shall be the stability of your times, and your salvation in a place of refuge; wisdom and knowledge and the reverence of the LORD is his treasure.⁷ If he should be seen by them they shall howl violently; the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.⁸ The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases, and the covenant is broken; the cities are despised, and there is no regard for man.⁹ The earth mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and confounded; Sharon has become like a desert plain; and Bashan and Carmel are desolate.¹⁰ Now I will arise, says the LORD; now I will be exalted; now I will lift up myself.¹¹ You shall conceive thorns, you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you.¹² And the peoples shall be as the burning of lime; as thorns that are gathered together shall they be burned in the fire.

¹³ Hear, you who are far off, what I have clone; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the heathen. Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly; he who despises treachery and oppression, who refuses to accept a bribe, who stops his ears that he may not hear of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes that he may not see evil.¹⁶ He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the precipice of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure.¹⁷ Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold the lands that are far off.¹⁸ Your heart shall learn reverence. Where is the scribe? Where is the weigher? Where is he who counted towers for a mighty people?¹⁹ You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech, of a stammering tongue, so that he cannot be understood.²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; your eyes shall see Jerusalem a rich habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be shaken to and fro; whose pegs shall never be removed, neither shall any of its cords be broken.²¹ For there the name of the LORD is glorious to us; he will be for us a place of light, an enlightenment, and an open space made by the hand; wherein the authority of a prince shall not reign, neither shall the mighty one be able to invade it.²² For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; and he is our Saviour.²³ Your riggings are loosed; they could not well hold straight their mast, they could not spread the sail; until they have divided the prey, a multitude of lame shall take it.²⁴ And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people who dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.