¹ I saw the Lord stationed by the side of the altar, giving blows to the tops of the pillars so that the doorsteps were shaking: and he said, I will let all of them be broken with earth-shocks; I will put the last of them to the sword: if any one of them goes in flight he will not get away, not one of them will be safe.

² Even if they go deep into the underworld, my hand will take them up from there; if they go up to heaven, I will get them down:

³ Though they take cover on the top of Carmel, I will go in search of them and get them out; though they keep themselves from my eyes in the bed of the sea, I will give orders to the great snake there and he will give them a bite:

⁴ And though they are taken away as prisoners by their attackers, even there will I give orders to the sword to put them to death: my eyes will be fixed on them for evil and not for good.

⁵ For the Lord, the God of armies, is he at whose touch the land is turned to water, and everyone in it will be given up to sorrow; all of it will be overflowing like the River, and will go down again like the River of Egypt;

⁶ It is he who makes his rooms in the heaven, basing his arch on the earth; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, and sends them flowing over the face of the earth; the Lord is his name.

⁷ Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? says the Lord. Have I not taken Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Aramaeans from Kir?

⁸ See, the eyes of the Lord are on the evil kingdom, and I will put an end to it in all the earth; but I will not send complete destruction on Jacob, says the Lord.

⁹ For see, I will give orders, and I will have Israel moved about among all the nations, as grain is moved about by the shaking of the tray, but not the smallest seed will be dropped on the earth.

¹⁰ All those sinners among my people will be put to the sword who say, Evil will not overtake us or come face to face with us.

¹¹ In that day I will put up the tent of David which has come down, and make good its broken places; and I will put up again his damaged walls, building it up as in the past;

¹² So that the rest of Edom may be their heritage, and all the nations who have been named by my name, says the Lord, who is doing this.

¹³ See, the days will come, says the Lord, when the ploughman will overtake him who is cutting the grain, and the crusher of the grapes him who is planting seed; and sweet wine will be dropping from the mountains, and the hills will be turned into streams of wine.

¹⁴ And I will let the fate of my people Israel be changed, and they will be building up again the waste towns and living in them; they will again be planting vine-gardens and taking the wine for their drink; and they will make gardens and get the fruit of them.

¹⁵ And I will have them planted in their land, and never again will they be uprooted from their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God.

¹ Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are robed with honour and power.

² You are clothed with light as with a robe; stretching out the heavens like a curtain:

³ The arch of your house is based on the waters; you make the clouds your carriage; you go on the wings of the wind:

⁴ He makes winds his angels, and flames of fire his servants.

⁵ He has made the earth strong on its bases, so that it may not be moved for ever and ever;

⁶ Covering it with the sea as with a robe: the waters were high over the mountains;

⁷ At the voice of your word they went in flight; at the sound of your thunder they went away in fear;

⁸ The mountains came up and the valleys went down into the place which you had made ready for them.

⁹ You made a limit over which they might not go, so that the earth would never again be covered by them.

¹⁰ You sent the springs into the valleys; they are flowing between the hills.

¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field; the mountain asses come to them for water.

¹² The birds of the air have their resting-places by them, and make their song among the branches.

¹³ He sends down rain from his store-houses on the hills: the earth is full of the fruit of his works.

¹⁴ He makes the grass come up for the cattle, and plants for the use of man; so that bread may come out of the earth;

¹⁵ And wine to make glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shining, and bread giving strength to his heart.

¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are full of growth, the cedars of Lebanon of his planting;

¹⁷ Where the birds have their resting-places; as for the stork, the tall trees are her house.

¹⁸ The high hills are a safe place for the mountain goats, and the rocks for the small beasts.

¹⁹ He made the moon for a sign of the divisions of the year; teaching the sun the time of its going down.

²⁰ When you make it dark, it is night, when all the beasts of the woods come quietly out of their secret places.

²¹ The young lions go thundering after their food; searching for their meat from God.

²² The sun comes up, and they come together, and go back to their secret places to take their rest.

²³ Man goes out to his work, and to his business, till the evening.

²⁴ O Lord, how great is the number of your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of the things you have made.

²⁵ There is the great, wide sea, where there are living things, great and small, more than may be numbered.

²⁶ There go the ships; there is that great beast, which you have made as a plaything.

²⁷ All of them are waiting for you, to give them their food in its time.

²⁸ They take what you give them; they are full of the good things which come from your open hand.

²⁹ If your face is veiled, they are troubled; when you take away their breath, they come to an end, and go back to the dust.

³⁰ If you send out your spirit, they are given life; you make new the face of the earth.

³¹ Let the glory of the Lord be for ever; let the Lord have joy in his works:

³² At whose look the earth is shaking; at whose touch the mountains send out smoke.

³³ I will make songs to the Lord all my life; I will make melody to my God while I have my being.

³⁴ Let my thoughts be sweet to him: I will be glad in the Lord.

³⁵ Let sinners be cut off from the earth, and let all evil-doers come to an end. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. Give praise to the Lord.