22Yes, a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to the footings of the mountains.23I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.24They will be weakened by hunger, eaten away by plague and the bitter scourge. Against them I shall send the fang of wild animals and the poison of snakes that glide in the dust.25Outside, the sword bereaves, while inside terror will reign. Young man and girl alike will perish, suckling and greybeard both together.26I should crush them to dust, I said, I should wipe out all memory of them,27did I not fear the boasting of the enemy.’ But do not let their foes be mistaken! Do not let them say, ‘We have got the upper hand and Yahweh plays no part in this.’28What a short–sighted nation this is, how thoroughly imperceptive!29Were they wise, they would succeed, they would be able to read their destiny.30How else could one man rout a thousand, how could two put ten thousand to flight, were it not that their Rock has sold them, that Yahweh has delivered them up?31But their rock is not like our Rock; our enemies cannot pray for us!32For their vine springs from the stock of Sodom and from the groves of Gomorrah: their grapes are poisonous grapes, their clusters are bitter;33their wine is snakes’ poison, the vipers’ cruel venom.34But he, is he not safe with me, sealed inside my treasury?35Vengeance is mine, I will pay them back, for the time when they make a false step. For the day of their ruin is close, doom is rushing towards them, for he will see to it that their power fails. that neither serf nor free man remains.36(For Yahweh will see his people righted, he will take pity on his servants.)37‘Where are their gods then?’ he will ask, ‘the rock where they sought refuge,38who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations?’ Let these arise and help you, let these be the shelter above you!39See now that I, I am he, and beside me there is no other god. It is I who deal death and life; when I have struck, it is I who heal (no one can rescue anyone from me).40Yes, I raise my hand to heaven, and I say, ‘As surely as I live for ever,41When I have whetted my flashing sword, I shall enforce justice, I shall return vengeance to my foes, I shall take vengeance on my foes.42I shall make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will feed on flesh: the blood of the wounded and the prisoners, the dishevelled heads of the enemy!’43Heavens, rejoice with him, let all the children of God pay him homage! Nations, rejoice with his people, let God’s envoys tell of his power! For he will avenge the blood of his servants, he will return vengeance to my foes, he will repay those who hate him and purify his people’s country.
The New Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition, (New York: Doubleday.) 1990.