11 O LORD, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
12 O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
13 O LORD our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 But you have increased the nation, O LORD,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
16 O LORD, in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
17 Like a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O LORD;
18 we were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.
Comment: I am not trying to translate this passage, but I am writing what I think the various concepts are throughout the passage.
You are the Sovereign God, but most people don’t understand that truth! Please get tough and even, if necessary, burn them up! On the other hand, You have been very good to us Jews, please let us live in peace. You’ve been good to us in the past but recently foreign powers have been ruling us! I hope, and believe that when you have dealt with them, our foreign rulers will be wiped out completely! You have made us a mighty nation, and Your people are praying that You will act against our enemy. Your discipline is beginning to have an effect! We have had pain like a pregnant woman goes through during childbirth, but so far, we have only passed flatus! We have achieved very little!……..God answers them saying, ‘Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! – What heaven sends will cause even your dead to be raised from the grave! Take care of yourselves while I work this out in my fury! The prophet makes it plain: God is coming in justice; in punishment for sin and those committing murder won’t be able to hide! I’ve had a try – you have a go at it in your minds even if not on paper!
Deut 30: 2-3…..return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
Prayer: Help me to remember, Lord, that You are more interested in obedience than sacrifice. Thank You for the ‘Once for all’ sacrifice of Jesus.
As I read it! 