O Lord, Be Gracious to Us
1 lAh, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; mwe wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 nAt the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
oas locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
5 pThe Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 qand he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s1 treasure.
7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
rthe envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 sThe highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
tCovenants are broken;
cities2 are despised;
there is no regard for man.
9 uThe land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 v“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11 wYou conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is xa fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
xlike thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
y“Who among us can dwell zwith the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 aHe who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
band shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
chis bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
17 dYour eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
ethey will see a land that stretches afar.
18 fYour heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is ghe who weighed the tribute?
Where is hhe who counted the towers?”
19 iYou will see no more the insolent people,
the people jof an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
kYour eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an limmovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of mbroad rivers and streams,
nwhere no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the Lord is our ojudge; the Lord is our plawgiver;
the Lord is our qking; he will save us.
23 Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
rThen prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even sthe lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, t“I am sick”;
uthe people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
The Scroll and the Lamb
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne ha scroll written within and on the back, isealed with seven seals. 2 And jI saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, kthe Lion lof the tribe of Judah, mthe Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw na Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with oseven eyes, which are pthe seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders qfell down before the Lamb, reach holding a harp, and sgolden bowls full of incense, twhich are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang ua new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for vyou were slain, and by your blood wyou ransomed people for God
from xevery tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them ya kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering zmyriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
a“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard bevery creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures csaid, “Amen!” and the elders dfell down and worshiped.
