I.XXVI. A City of exceeding strength

1 A City of exceeding strength
Doth happily to us belong;
And the decreed salvation shall
Like walls and bulwarks keep it strong.
2 Set open then the city-gates,
That so the righteous nation, who
Immoveably maintains the truth,
May gladly enter there into.

3 In perfect peace Thou such a one
wilt ever surely case to be,
Whose mind on Thee securely stays;
Because he hopes alone on Thee.
4 Repose then ever in the LORD
The lively hope of all your mind!
Because in JAH, JEHOVAH, sure,
A rock eternal ye shall find.

5 He'll bring down those who dwell on high,
He'll lay the haughty city low,
He'll lay it level with the ground,
And down into the dust will throw.
6 The feet of the afflicted shall
In triumph tread it wholly down;
And it shall lie beneath the feet
Of him that was a helpless one.

[2 Part]

7 The way of ev'ry righteous man
Is universal righteousness;
And thou, O RIGHTEOUS ONE, dost weigh
In righteousness each path of his.
8 Moreover in thy judgments way
LORD, Thee we longing look to see;
Our souls desire is to thy name,
And to the memory of Thee.

9 In the dark seasons of the night,
My soul Thee earnestly desires:
My wakeful spirit in my breast
For Thee at early dawn inquires,
For when thy judgments are display'd
On earth, the world's inhabitants
Shou'd lay to heart thy righteous works,
And learn the righteousness of saints.

10 Tho' for a wicked man there should
Bowels of heav'nly pity yearn,
Yet he the way of righteousness
He'll work perverse iniquity;
Nor will he ev'n so much as see
JEHOVAH's glorious majesty.

11 LORD, when thine hand is lifted up,
In thy most awful judgments, high;
yet lest they see thine hand therein,
Perversely they will shut their eye.
but with confusion they shall see
The zeal thou for thy people hast,
And the consuming fire that shall
Thine adversaries wholly waste.

[3 Part]

12 JEHOVAH, certainly Thou wilt
Safety and peace for us ordain:
For our affairs Thou mange dost,
And for us, all our works maintain.
13 O LORD our God, tho' other Lords
Have reigned over us, we own;
Yet hence, thy name we mention will,
And by Thee none but thine alone.

14 They'r dead, and shall not live again;
Deceas'd, and never shall arise;
Thy judgments have destroy'd them quite,
Yea caus'd that all their mem'ry dies.
15 The nation, LORD, increasest thou,
Our nation greatly hast increas'd;
And Thou hast glorify'd thy self,
And thro' the earth dispers'd them hast.

16 o LORD, when they were in distress,
They Thee then visited with cries;
And pray'r in secret poured out,
When Thou didst sorely them chastize.
17 Like as a pregnant woman when
Approaching travail comes apace,
Is pain'd, and in her pangs cries out;
So were we, LORD, before thy face.

18 We trouble have conceiv'd, are pain'd,
But bring forth vanity, and wind;
Nor do the world's disturbers fall:
Nor we on earth deliverance find.

[4 Part]

19 Thy dead shall surely live again,
With thy dead body rise they must:
Awake out of the sleep of death,
And sing ye who dwell in the dust!
Because the dew that falls on thee,
Is like the dew that makes herbs grow
But out abroad with violence,
The earth the wicked ones shall throw.

20 Come then my people enter in
To chambers that most secret are;
And after thee shut thou the doors,
And make them fast with utmost care.
There do thou hide thy self a while;
It shall but as a moment be,
And all the indignation shall
Be pass'd for ever over thee.

21 For lo, the LORD is coming forth,
Out of his dwelling place on high,
Upon the earth's inhabitants,
To punish their iniquity.
The earth shall then disclose and show
The bloods within her buried;
Her slain shall be brought forth to view,
And be no longer covered.

Text Information
First Line: A City of exceeding strength
Language: English
Publication Date: 1758
Scripture:
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