The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished] lit. 'ended.' For one brief moment the curtain of gloom is lifted, and a hope—in a sense a Messianic hope—is held out to Zion (Isaiah 40:2). He will discover thy sins] i.e. he will punish thy sins; for, if to cover is to forgive, to discover must be to punish (Psalms 32:1; Psalms 85:2). Thus the poem closes with a contrast. Zion's sins shall be covered, Edom's discovered. Zion's captivity is past, Edom's yet to come. The Hebrews' debt is paid, the Edomites' is yet to be exacted.

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