Psalms of Solomon 2

1When the sinner acted arrogantly, he tore down fortified walls with battering rams, and you did not stop him.

2Foreign nations went up onto your altar; they trampled it with their sandals in arrogance.

3because the sons of Jerusalem defiled the holy things of the Lord; they profaned the offerings of God with their lawless acts.

4Because of these things he said, “Cast them far away from me; the beauty of his glory did not prosper them.”

5It was despised before God; it was dishonored to the end.

6Sons and daughters were in evil captivity, their necks in a seal, with a mark among the nations.

7He dealt with them according to their sins, because he abandoned them into the hands of those who prevailed over them.

8For he turned his face away from mercy toward them—young and old and their children, all at once.

9For they did evil once for all, not listening.

10And heaven was weighed down, and the earth abhorred them,

11For no man has done on it what they did.

12And the earth will know all your righteous judgments, O God.

13They made the sons of Jerusalem a mockery, like prostitutes within her; everyone passing by would enter in broad daylight; they mocked them with their lawless deeds.

14Just as they themselves used to do, they displayed their iniquities before the sun, and the daughters of Jerusalem were profane according to your judgment,

15Because they themselves defiled what was pure in the filth of illicit mingling. My belly and my inward parts ache over these things.

16I will declare you righteous, O God, with an upright heart; for in your judgments is your righteousness, O God.

17For you repaid the sinners according to their deeds, and according to their exceedingly evil sins.

18You exposed their sins so that your judgment might be seen.

19You made their memorial perish from the earth. God is a righteous judge, and he will not show partiality.

20For the nations insulted Jerusalem in her trampling; they pulled her splendor down from the throne of glory.

21She wrapped herself in sackcloth instead of splendid clothing, and a cord around her head instead of a wreath.

22She removed the headdress of glory that God had placed on her.

23Her beauty was cast to the ground in disgrace.

24And I saw, and I entreated the face of the Lord and said, “Enough, Lord, of your hand weighing heavily on Israel by the attack of the nations.”

25For they mocked and did not spare, in anger and wrath with fierce indignation.

26And they will be brought to an end, unless you, Lord, rebuke them in your wrath.

27For they did not act out of zeal, but out of the desire of their soul,

28to pour out their wrath on us in plundering. And do not delay, O God, to repay them on their own heads,

29to bring down the arrogance of the dragon in dishonor.

30And I did not delay until God showed me his insolence, pierced through on the mountains of Egypt, utterly despised on land and sea.

31his body being carried along on the waves with great indignity, and there was no one to bury him;

32because he despised him with dishonor; he did not consider that he was a man, and afterward he did not consider.

33He said, "I will be lord of land and sea," and he did not know that God is great, mighty in his great strength.

34He himself is king over the heavens, and judges kings and rulers;

35the one who raises me to glory and brings the proud to everlasting destruction in disgrace, because they did not know him.

36And now see, you nobles of the earth, the judgment of the Lord, that he is a great and righteous king, judging what is under heaven.

37Bless God, you who fear the Lord with understanding, because the mercy of the Lord is upon those who fear him, with judgment.

38to distinguish between the righteous and the sinner, to repay sinners forever according to their deeds;

39and to show mercy to the righteous from the humiliation of the sinner, and to repay the sinner for what he did to the righteous.

40For the Lord is kind to those who call on him with endurance, to act according to his mercy toward his holy ones, to stand continually before him in strength.

41Blessed is the Lord forever in the sight of his servants.