Part I.

O UR Sion strongly is secur'd,
Which God Himself hath fortified;
High bulwarks rais'd on ev'ry side,
And with immortal walls immur'd:
Her gates at their approach display
Who justice love, and truth obey.

Who fix on Him their confidence,
He will in constant peace preserve.
O then with faith Jehovah serve,
Your strong and ever sure Defence:
Who hurls the mighty from their thrones,
And cities turns to heaps of stones.

Their structures levels with the floor,
Which sepulchres of dust inclose;
Trod underneath the feet of those,
That were of late despis'd and poor.
Straight is the way the righteous tread,
By Thee at once inform'd and led.

For we Thy judgments, Lord, expect,
And only on Thy grace rely;
To Thy great Name and memory
Th' affections of our souls erect.
My soul pursues Thee in the night,
And when the morn displays her light.

Part II.

Didst Thou Thy judgments exercise,
Then mortals should the truth discern:
And yet the wicked would not learn,
But Thy extended grace despise:
Among the just to injustice sold;
Nor will Thy Majesty behold.

Should'st Thou advance Thine arm on high,
Though wilful-blind, yet should they view
The shame and vengeance which pursue
All those who Thy dear saints envy:
Those vindicating flames, which burn
Thy foes, shall them to cinders turn.

Thou our eternal peace hast wrought,
And in our works Thy wonders shown.
Though other lords, besides our own,
Had us to their subjection brought,
Yet, through Thy only goodness, we
Remember'd both Thy Name and Thee.

Dead are they, never more to rise
From those dark caves of endless night;
Nor ever shall the cheerful light
Re-visit with their closed eyes.
Thy vengeance hath expell'd their breath,
And clos'd their memories in death.

Part III.

Thou, Thou hast giv'n us wounds on wounds;
In punishing Thy glory shown:
Far from Thy cheerful presence thrown,
Ev'n to the world's extremest bounds:
Amidst our stripes and sighings, we
Address'd our zealous pray'rs to Thee.

As women groaning with their load,
The time of their deliv'ry near,
Anticipating pain with fear,
Shriek in their pangs; so we to God:
So suffer'd, when in Thy disgrace;
So cried out, when Thou hidd'st Thy Face.

For we, with sorrow's burthen fraught,
Pain and anxiety of mind,
Brought only forth an empty wind,
Nor our desir'd deliv'ry wrought.
We neither could repulse our foes,
Nor give a period to our woes.

The Lord thus to His people spake:
Thy dead shall live; those who remain
In peaceful graves shall rise again.
O you who sleep in dust, awake!
Now sing! On you My plants I'll shed
My dew; the graves shall cast their dead.

Go, hide thee in thy inward rooms
A little, till My wrath pass by:
To punish man's impiety,
The Lord from heav'n in thunder comes:
The earth then shall your blood reveal,
Nor longer shall the slain conceal.