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26On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up victory like walls and bulwarks. ²Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. ³Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace— in peace because they trust in you. ⁴Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.

⁵For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. ⁶The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. ⁷The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. ⁸In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. ⁹My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ²For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!