But may all who take shelter ¹  in you be happy! ²  May they continually ³  shout for joy! ⁴  Shelter them ⁵  so that those who are loyal to you ⁶  may rejoice! ⁷ 

He does not charge interest when he lends his money. ¹  He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. ²  The one who lives like this ³  will never be upended.

For the Lord promotes ¹  justice, and never abandons ²  his faithful followers. They are permanently secure, ³  but the children ⁴  of evil men are wiped out. ⁵ 

We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, ¹  in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, ²  in the city of our God. God makes it permanently secure. ³  (Selah)

It is like the dew of Hermon, ¹  which flows down upon the hills of Zion. ²  Indeed ³  that is where the Lord has decreed a blessing will be available – eternal life. ⁴ 

Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? ¹  It was already ²  done long ago, ³  before our time. ⁴ 

For the wise man, like ¹  the fool, will not be remembered for very long, ²  because ³  in the days to come, both will already have been forgotten. ⁴  Alas, ⁵  the wise man dies – just like ⁶  the fool!

What they loved, ¹  as well as what they hated ²  and envied, ³  perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. ⁴ 

You will not be buried with them, ¹  because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

Indeed, ¹  you have made the city ²  into a heap of rubble, the fortified town into a heap of ruins; the fortress of foreigners ³  is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt.

Now go, write it ¹  down on a tablet in their presence, ²  inscribe it on a scroll, so that it might be preserved for a future time as an enduring witness. ³ 

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

Sinners are afraid in Zion; panic ¹  grips the godless. ²  They say, ³  ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire? Who among us can coexist with unquenchable ⁴  fire?’

Night and day it will burn; ¹  its smoke will ascend continually. Generation after generation it will be a wasteland and no one will ever pass through it again.

He assigns them their allotment; ¹  he measures out their assigned place. ²  They will live there ³  permanently; they will settle in it through successive generations.

those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ¹  They will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, ²  happiness and joy will overwhelm ³  them; grief and suffering will disappear. ⁴ 

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is an eternal God, the creator of the whole earth. ¹  He does not get tired or weary; there is no limit to his wisdom. ² 

Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ¹  Let him announce it and explain it to me – since I established an ancient people – ²  let them announce future events! ³ 

You said, ‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ ¹  You did not think about these things; ²  you did not consider how it would turn out. ³ 

For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide ¹  will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.”