“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,^(A)
    the most beautiful inheritance^(B) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’^(C)
    and not turn away from following me.

² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
    you swear,^(A) ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’^(B)
then the nations will invoke blessings^(C) by him
    and in him they will boast.^(D)”

¹⁹ Lord, my strength and my fortress,
    my refuge^(A) in time of distress,
to you the nations will come^(B)
    from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,^(C)
    worthless idols^(D) that did them no good.^(E)