But you, O Lord, reign ¹  forever!

Then I said, ¹  “Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high. You are the place where we can find refuge.

He is secure at all times. ¹  He has no regard for your commands; ²  he disdains all his enemies. ³ 

Those who anticipate my defeat ¹  attack me all day long. Indeed, ²  many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. ³ 

Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; ¹  you have done great things. ²  O God, who can compare to you? ³ 

The earth ¹  dries up ²  and withers, the world shrivels up and withers; the prominent people of the earth ³  fade away.

The Lord is exalted, ¹  indeed, ²  he lives in heaven; ³  he fills Zion with justice and fairness.

With what should I ¹  enter the Lord’s presence? With what ²  should I bow before the sovereign God? ³  Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹  ‘With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, ²  its thickest woods.

All these kings gathered and joined forces ¹  at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.

Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them. ¹ 

Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted, ¹  and looked so arrogantly? ²  At the Holy One of Israel! ³ 

‘What right do you have to be here? What relatives do you have buried here? ¹  Why ²  do you chisel out a tomb for yourself here? He chisels out his burial site in an elevated place, he carves out his tomb on a cliff.

Indeed, ¹  the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place, he brings down an elevated town; he brings it down to the ground, ²  he throws it down to the dust.

Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted and looked so arrogantly? ¹  At the Holy One of Israel! ² 

Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky ¹  and fortifies her elevated stronghold, ²  I will send destroyers against her,” ³  says the Lord. ⁴ 

Your presumptuous heart ¹  has deceived you – you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, ²  whose home is high in the mountains. ³  You think to yourself, ⁴  ‘No one can ⁵  bring me down to the ground!’ ⁶ 

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹  ‘With my many chariots ²  I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars, and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, ³  its thickest woods.

Look up at the sky! ¹  Who created all these heavenly lights? ²  He is the one who leads out their ranks; ³  he calls them all by name. Because of his absolute power and awesome strength, not one of them is missing.

For this is what the high and exalted one says, the one who rules ¹  forever, whose name is holy: “I dwell in an exalted and holy place, but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ²  in order to cheer up the humiliated and to encourage the discouraged. ³