Isaiah 26
1 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.
On that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: A strong city have we; his aid will he grant [us] as walls and defence.
2 Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.
Open ye the gates, that there may enter in the righteous nation which guardeth the truth.
3 The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.
The confiding mind wilt thou keep in perfect peace; because he trusteth in thee.
4 You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.
Trust ye in the Lord unto eternity; for in Yah the Lord is everlasting protection.
5 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.
For he bendeth down the dwellers of the height; the lofty fortress—he layeth it low; he layeth it low, along the ground; he casteth it down to the dust.
6 The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.
The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.
7 The path of the just is upright; the difficult path of the just is right to walk in.
The path of the just is straight: thou, most upright, dost ever level the road of the just.
8 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.
Yea, on the path of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; for thy name, and for the remembrance of thee, was the longing of our soul.
9 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.
In my soul have I longed for thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek for thee; for when thy judgments are [sent] on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 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.
If favor be shown to the wicked, he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not regard the majesty of the Lord.
11 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.
Lord, thy hand was raised high, but they would not see: oh that they might see, and be ashamed, [thy] zeal for the people; yea, the fire which shall devour them—thy enemies.
12 Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.
Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for also all our works hast thou accomplished for us.
13 O Lord our God, other lords have possessed us apart from you, but in you alone let us remember your name.
O Lord our God, lords have had dominion over us beside thee; [but] of thee only would we make mention, —of thy name.
14 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.
[They are] dead, they will not live [again]; [they are] departed, they will not rise [again]; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made to perish every memorial of them.
15 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.
Thou hast done more for the nation, O Lord, thou hast done more for the nation; thou hast glorified thyself: thou hast enlarged all the ends of the earth.
16 Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.
Lord, in trouble have they sought thee, they poured out earnest prayers when thy chastening was upon them.
17 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.
Like as a pregnant woman, that is near giving birth, is in pain, [and] crieth out in her pangs: so have we been in thy presence, O Lord.
18 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.
We have been pregnant and in pain, [but it was] as though we brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the land; and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 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.
Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing ye, that dwell in the dust; for a dew on herbs is thy dew, and the earth shall cast out the departed.
20 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.
Go, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy door behind thee: hide thyself but for a little moment, until the indignation be passed away.
21 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.
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth on them: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more be a cover over her slain.
