¹ Why do the nations protest
    and the peoples conspire in vain?^(A)
2 Kings on earth rise up
    and princes plot together
    against the Lord and against his anointed one:^[b](B)
3 “Let us break their shackles
    and cast off their chains from us!”^(C)
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs;
    the Lord derides them,^(D)
5 Then he speaks to them in his anger,
    in his wrath he terrifies them:

⁵ See! The kings assembled,
    together they advanced.
^6 [a]When they looked they were astounded;
    terrified, they were put to flight!^(A)
7 Trembling seized them there,
    anguish, like a woman’s labor,^(B)
8 As when the east wind wrecks
    the ships of Tarshish!^[b]

⁷ At your roar, O God of Jacob,
    chariot and steed lay still.
⁸ You, terrible are you;
    who can stand before you and your great anger?^(A)
9 From the heavens you pronounced sentence;
    the earth was terrified and reduced to silence,

¹² Ah! the roaring of many peoples—^[a]
    a roar like the roar of the seas!
The thundering of nations—
    thunder like the thundering of mighty waters!^(A)
13 [b]But God shall rebuke them,
    and they shall flee far away,
Driven like chaff on the mountains before a wind,
    like tumbleweed before a storm.^(B)
14 At evening, there is terror,
    but before morning, they are gone!
Such is the portion of those who despoil us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.^(C)