1 ARST Yahweh, you are my God; I will honor you and praise you. You do wonderful things; you said long ago that you would do those things, and now you have done them as you said that you would. BSB BSB: O LORD, You are my God! I will exalt You; I will praise Your name. For You have worked wonders—plans formed long ago—in perfect faithfulness.
2 ARST Sometimes you have caused cities to become heaps of rubble, cities that had strong walls around them. You have caused palaces in foreign countries to disappear; they will never be rebuilt. BSB BSB: Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
3 ARST Therefore, people in powerful nations will declare that you are very great, and people in nations whose leaders show mercy to no one will revere you. BSB BSB: Therefore, a strong people will honor You. The cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
4 ARST Yahweh, you are like a strong tower where poor people can find refuge, a place where needy people can go when they are distressed. You are like a place where people can find refuge in a storm and where they can stay in the shade, out of the hot sun. People oppress us and show us no mercy, they are like a storm beating against a wall, BSB BSB: For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,
5 ARST and like the very strong heat in the dry land. But you cause the noisy cries of people from foreign nations to be quiet. Like the air cools when a cloud comes overhead, you stop merciless people from singing songs about how great they are. BSB BSB: like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced.
6 ARST Here in Jerusalem Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will prepare a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a banquet with plenty of good meat and fine well- aged wine. BSB BSB: On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.
7 ARST People here are sad; they are so sad that it is like a dark cloud that hangs over them, like they experience when someone dies. But Yahweh will enable them to quit being sad. BSB BSB: On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
8 ARST He will get rid of death forever! Yahweh our God will cause people to no longer mourn because someone has died. And he will stop other people insulting and making fun of his land and us his people. That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it! BSB BSB: He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.
9 ARST At that time, people will proclaim,“Yahweh is our God! We trusted in him, and he has rescued us! Yahweh, in whom we trusted, has done it; we should rejoice because he has saved us!” BSB BSB: And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
10 ARST Yahweh will protect and bless Jerusalem. But he will crush the people in the land of Moab; they will be like straw that is trampled in the manure and left to rot. BSB BSB: For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
11 ARST Yahweh will push down the people of Moab; they will be like a swimmer who pushes down the water with his hands; they will push their hands through the dung but never get out of it. He will cause them to cease being proud, and he will show that all the things that they have done are worthless. BSB BSB: He will spread out his hands within it, as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim. His pride will be brought low, despite the skill of his hands.
12 ARST He will cause armies to tear down the high walls around the cities of Moab; they will fall into pieces and lie in the dust. BSB BSB: The high-walled fortress will be brought down, cast to the ground, into the dust.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.