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For you have been a refuge to the poor,
    a refuge to the needy in their distress;
Shelter from the rain,
    shade from the heat.(A)
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rain,
    the roar of strangers like heat in the desert,
You subdued the heat with the shade of a cloud,
    the rain of the tyrants was vanquished.

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17 I will make judgment a measuring line,
    and justice a level.—[a]
Hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
    and waters shall flood the hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death shall be canceled
    and your pact with Sheol shall not stand.
When the raging flood passes through,
    you shall be beaten down by it.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 28:17 Line…level: instruments used in constructing a building, to keep it true. They are used metaphorically here to refer to the qualities that Zion, the city of God, must manifest, judgment and justice, not bloodshed (Mi 3:10), nor deceit and violence, which would result in a bulging unstable wall doomed to destruction (Is 30:12–14). Cf. 1 Cor 3:10–17.

30 The Lord will make his glorious voice heard,
    and reveal his arm coming down
In raging fury and flame of consuming fire,
    in tempest, and rainstorm, and hail.(A)

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