Isaiah 26
1 In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. He will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
In that day, this canticle will be sung in the land of Judah. Within it will be set the city of our strength: Zion, a savior, a wall with a bulwark.
2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in.
Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.
3 Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee.
The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.
4 Trust ye in Jehovah forever, for in Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock.
You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.
5 For he has brought down those who dwell on high. The lofty city, he lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.
For he will bend down those living in the heights. He will bring low the lofty city. He will lower it, even to the ground. He will tear it down, even to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.
7 The way of the just is uprightness. Thou who are upright directs the path of the just.
The path of the just is upright; the difficult path of the just is right to walk in.
8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for thee, to thy name. Even to thy memorial, is the desire of our soul.
And in the path of your judgments, O Lord, we have endured for you. Your name and your remembrance are the desire of the soul.
9 With my soul I have desired thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me I will seek thee earnestly. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
My soul has desired you in the night. But I will also watch for you with my spirit, in my inmost heart, from the morning. When you accomplish your judgments upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn justice.
10 Let favor be shown to a wicked man, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.
Let us take pity on the impious one, but he will not learn justice. In the land of the holy ones, he has done iniquity, and so he will not see the glory of the Lord.
11 Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they shall see thy zeal for the people, and be put to shame. Yea, fire shall devour thine adversaries.
Lord, let your hand be exalted, and let them not see it. May the envious people see and be confounded. And may fire devour your enemies.
12 Jehovah, thou will ordain peace for us, for thou have also wrought all our works for us.
Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.
13 O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only we will make mention of thy name.
O Lord our God, other lords have possessed us apart from you, but in you alone let us remember your name.
14 Being dead, they shall not live. Being deceased, they shall not rise. Therefore thou have visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish.
Let not the dead live; let not the giants rise up again. For this reason, you have visited and destroyed them, and you have perished all remembrance of them.
15 Thou have increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou have increased the nation. Thou are glorified. Thou have enlarged all the borders of the land.
You have been lenient to the people, O Lord, lenient to the people. But have you been glorified? You have removed all the limits of the earth.
16 Jehovah, in trouble they have visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.
17 As a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before thee, O Jehovah.
Like a woman who has conceived and is approaching the time for delivery, who, in anguish, cries out in her pains, so have we become before your face, O Lord.
18 We have been with child. We have been in pain. We have as it were brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
We have conceived, and it is as if we were in labor, but we have given birth to wind. We have not brought forth salvation on the earth. For this reason, the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.
19 Thy dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye who dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.
Your dead shall live. My slain will rise again. Be awakened, and give praise, you who live in the dust! For your dew is the dew of the light, and you shall be dragged down to the land of the giants, to ruination.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors around thee. Hide thyself for a little moment until the indignation be passed over.
Go, my people! Enter your chambers. Close your doors behind you. Conceal yourselves for a very brief time, until the indignation has passed over you.
21 For, behold, Jehovah comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
For behold, the Lord will go forth from his place, so that he may visit the iniquity of each inhabitant of the earth against him. And the earth will reveal its blood, and it will no longer cover its slain.
