For You have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of strangers is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt, establishing that the praise responds to God's demolition of human pride and the destruction of cities that represent human power and achievement. The heap and ruin imagery refers back to the apocalyptic judgment of the preceding chapter, establishing continuity between apocalyptic vision and liturgical response. The palace of strangers—perhaps Babylon or another enemy city—becomes the symbol of human presumption stripped away. The assertion that it will not be rebuilt again establishes the finality and permanence of the judgment. The speaker's praise suggests that the destruction of human pride is cause for thanksgiving, not lamentation.

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