1 Distress and the sound of war mine ears have heard, the sound of the trumpet, and the noise of slaughter and destruction:

2 the sound of much people like a mighty and frequent wind: like the tempest of fire which comes over the wilderness.

3 And I said to my heart: Where will he judge him?

4 I heard a sound in Jerusalem, the Holy City;

5 the bonds of my loins were loosed at the report: and my knees trembled,

6 and my bones were moved like flax.

7 And I said, They will make straight their paths in righteousness and I remembered the judgments of the Lord, from the creation of the heaven and the earth: and I justified GOD in all His judgments from the beginning.

8 But GOD laid bare their sins before the sun: and to all the earth was made known the righteous judgments of the Lord.

9 For in secret places of the earth were they doing evil;

10 the son had connexion with the mother and the father with the daughter:

11 and all of them committed adultery with their neighbours' wives: and they made solemn covenants amongst themselves concerning these things:

12 they were plundering the House of GOD's Holiness, as if there was none to inherit and to deliver.

13 And they were treading His sanctuary in all their pollutions, and in the time of their separation they polluted the sacrifices, as common meat:

14 and they left no sins which they did not commit, and even worse than the Gentiles.

15 For this cause GOD mingled for them a spirit of error, and caused them to drink a living cup for drunkenness:

16 He brought him from the other side of the world, the one that afflicts grievously:

17 and he decrees war against Jerusalem and against her land:

18 and the judges of the land met him with joy: and they said to him: Thy path shall be ordered, come, enter in peace.

19 They levelled the lofty paths for his entering: they opened the doors against Jerusalem; and they crowned the walls.

20 And he entered like a father into the house of his children, in peace: and he set his feet there in great firmness:

21 and they took possession of the towers and the walls of Jerusalem.

22 For GOD brought him in assurance against their error:

23 and they destroyed their princes because he was cunning in counsel: and they poured out the blood of the dwellers in Jerusalem like the water of uncleanness:

24 and he carried off their sons and daughters, who had been born in pollution,

25 and had wrought their pollution even as also their fathers had done.

26 And Jerusalem defiled even those things that were consecrated to the name of GOD:

27 and GOD was justified in His judgments upon the nations of the earth,

28 and the saints of GOD were as innocent lambs in their midst.

29 GOD is to be praised who judges all the earth in His righteousness.

30 Behold, O GOD, Thou hast shown us Thy judgments in Thy righteousness,

31 and our eyes have seen Thy judgments, O GOD: and we have justified Thy name that is honoured for ever.

32 For Thou art a GOD of righteousness: who judgest Israel with chastening.

33 Turn Thy mercy towards us and be gracious to us:

34 and gather the dispersion of Israel, in mercy and in kindness:

35 for Thy faithfulness is with us: and we are stiff-necked, and Thou art our chastener:

36 do not desert us, O our GOD! lest the Gentiles should swallow us up, as though there were none to deliver:

37 and Thou art our GOD from the beginning, and upon Thee is our hope, O Lord:

38 and we will not depart from Thee, for Thy judgments are good;

39 upon us and upon our children is Thy good will for ever, O Lord GOD, our Saviour, and we shall not be shaken again, for ever.

40 The Lord is to be praised for His judgments by the mouth of His saints:

41 and blessed is Israel from the Lord for evermore.