<p class="poetry">Yes, as your judgments unfold,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">O <sc>Lordsc>, we wait for you.p> <p class="poetry">We desire your fame and reputation to grow.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will make justice the measuring line,p> <p class="poetry">fairness the plumb line;p> <p class="poetry">hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is exalted,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">indeed,<n id="2" /> he lives in heaven;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">he fills Zion with justice and fairness.p>

<p class="poetry">He says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Look, it now descends on Edom,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">on the people I will annihilate in judgment.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">From whom does he receive directions?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Who<n id="2" /> teaches him the correct way to do things,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">or imparts knowledge to him,p> <p class="poetry">or instructs him in skillful design?<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you say, Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">Why do you say, Israel,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is not aware of what is happening to me,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">My God is not concerned with my vindication&#8221;?<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Listen to me in silence, you coastlands!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Let the nations find renewed strength!p> <p class="poetry">Let them approach and then speak;p> <p class="poetry">let us come together for debate!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">A crushed reed he will not break,p> <p class="poetry">a dim wick he will not extinguish;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will faithfully make just decrees.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">He will not grow dim or be crushed<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">before establishing justice on the earth;p> <p class="poetry">the coastlands<n id="2" /> will wait in anticipation for his decrees.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The one who vindicates me is close by.p> <p class="poetry">Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Who is my accuser?<n id="2" /> Let him challenge me!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">We all growl like bears,p> <p class="poetry">we coo mournfully like doves;p> <p class="poetry">we wait for deliverance,<n id="1" /> but there is none,p> <p class="poetry">for salvation, but it is far from us.p>

<p class="poetry">You must be truthful, honest and uprightp> <p class="poetry">when you take an oath saying, &#8216;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives!&#8217;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">If you do,<n id="2" /> the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you arep> <p class="poetry">and will make him the object of their boasting.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">No,<n id="1" /> a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.p> <p class="poetry">Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant<n id="1" /> of David.p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;He will do what is just and right in the land.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Judgment will come on the cities on the high plain:<n id="1" /> on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

<p class="poetry">Yet in days to comep> <p class="poetry">I will reverse Moab&#8217;s ill fortune.&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p> <p class="bodytext">The judgment against Moab ends here.p>

(Make the chain,<n id="1" /> because the land is full of murder<n id="2" /> and the city is full of violence.)

I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves.<n id="1" /> I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage.<n id="2" />

When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.

I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God; follow my statutes, observe my regulations, and carry them out.