Be merciful to us, LORD, be merciful; we have been treated with so much contempt.

We have been mocked too long by the rich and scorned by proud oppressors.

People passing by the city look at you in scorn. They shake their heads and laugh at Jerusalem's ruins: "Is this that lovely city? Is this the pride of the world?"

All your enemies mock you and glare at you with hate. They curl their lips and sneer, "We have destroyed it! This is the day we have waited for!"

O God, the heathen have invaded your land. They have desecrated your holy Temple and left Jerusalem in ruins.

In front of his companions and the Samaritan troops he said, "What do these miserable Jews think they're doing? Do they intend to rebuild the city? Do they think that by offering sacrifices they can finish the work in one day? Can they make building stones out of heaps of burnt rubble?"

The LORD says, "I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins, a place where jackals live; the cities of Judah will become a desert, a place where no one lives."

"When Hezekiah was king of Judah, the prophet Micah of Moresheth told all the people that the LORD Almighty had said, 'Zion will be plowed like a field; Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.'

And so, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.

"All this you see---the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down."

that I may stand before the people of Jerusalem and tell them all the things for which I praise you. I will rejoice because you saved me.

O God, it is right for us to praise you in Zion and keep our promises to you,

David was wearing a robe made of the finest linen, and so were the musicians, Chenaniah their leader, and the Levites who carried the Box. David also wore a linen ephod.

It was then that David first gave Asaph and the other Levites the responsibility for singing praises to the LORD.

They will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief.

Those whom you have rescued will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief.

They will come and sing for joy on Mount Zion and be delighted with my gifts--- gifts of grain and wine and olive oil, gifts of sheep and cattle. They will be like a well-watered garden; they will have everything they need.

Then the young women will dance and be happy, and men, young and old, will rejoice. I will comfort them and turn their mourning into joy, their sorrow into gladness.

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion; with him were 144,000 people who have his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

The 144,000 people stood before the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders; they were singing a new song, which only they could learn. Of the whole human race they are the only ones who have been redeemed.