<p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> knocks down those who live in a high place,p> <p class="poetry">he brings down an elevated town;p> <p class="poetry">he brings it down to the ground,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he throws it down to the dust.p>

<p class="poetry">I<n id="1" /> look for<n id="2" /> you during the night,p> <p class="poetry">my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,p> <p class="poetry">for when your judgments come upon the earth,p> <p class="poetry">those who live in the world learn about justice.<n id="3" />p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">Your dead will come back to life;p> <p class="poetry">your corpses will rise up.p> <p class="poetry">Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the fortified city<n id="1" /> is left alone;p> <p class="poetry">it is a deserted settlementp> <p class="poetry">and abandoned like the desert.p> <p class="poetry">Calves<n id="2" /> graze there;p> <p class="poetry">they lie down therep> <p class="poetry">and eat its branches bare.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,p> <p class="poetry">senseless babbling,p> <p class="poetry">a syllable here, a syllable there.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your treaty with death will be dissolved;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">your agreement<n id="2" /> with Sheol will not last.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">you will be overrun by it.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;p> <p class="poetry">indeed,<n id="1" /> every morning it will sweep by,p> <p class="poetry">it will come through during the day and the night.&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">When this announcement is understood,p> <p class="poetry">it will cause nothing but terror.p>

<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to accomplish his work,p> <p class="poetry">his peculiar work,p> <p class="poetry">to perform his task,p> <p class="poetry">his strange task.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So now, do not mock,p> <p class="poetry">or your chains will become heavier!p> <p class="poetry">For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,p> <p class="poetry">from the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, against the entire land.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Grain is crushed,p> <p class="poetry">though one certainly does not thresh it forever.p> <p class="poetry">The wheel of one&#8217;s wagon rolls over it,p> <p class="poetry">but his horses do not crush it.p>

<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> has poured out on youp> <p class="poetry">a strong urge to sleep deeply.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He has shut your eyes (the prophets),p> <p class="poetry">and covered your heads (the seers).p>

<p class="poetry">Your thinking is perverse!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Should the potter be regarded as clay?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Should the thing made say<n id="3" /> about its maker, &#8220;He didn&#8217;t make me&#8221;?p> <p class="poetry">Or should the pottery say about the potter, &#8220;He doesn&#8217;t understand&#8221;?p>

<p class="poetry">For when they see their children,p> <p class="poetry">whom I will produce among them,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they will honor<n id="2" /> my name.p> <p class="poetry">They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they will respect<n id="4" /> the God of Israel.p>

<p class="poetry">all will be put to shame<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because of a nation that cannot help them,p> <p class="poetry">who cannot give them aid or help,p> <p class="poetry">but only shame and disgrace.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the master, the <sc>Lordsc>, the Holy One of Israel says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">but you are unwilling.p>

<p class="poetry">You say, &#8216;No, we will flee on horses,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">so you will indeed flee.p> <p class="poetry">You say, &#8216;We will ride on fast horses,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">so your pursuers will be fast.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">For this reason the <sc>Lordsc> is ready to show you mercy;p> <p class="poetry">he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, the <sc>Lordsc> is a just God;p> <p class="poetry">all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For people will live in Zion;p> <p class="poetry">in Jerusalem<n id="1" /> you will weep no more.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;p> <p class="poetry">when he hears it, he will respond to you.<n id="3" />p>

For at that time<n id="1" /> everyone will get rid of<n id="2" /> the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Mourn<n id="1" /> over the land of my people,p> <p class="poetry">which is overgrown with thorns and briers,p> <p class="poetry">and over all the once-happy houses<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">in the city filled with revelry.<n id="3" />p>