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.
In that day, shall be sung this song, in the land of Judah, —A strong city, have we! Salvation, will he set for walls and rampart,
2 Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.
Open ye the gates, —That there may enter in—a righteous nation preserving fidelity.
3 The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.
A purpose sustained, thou wilt guard, [saying], Prosper! Prosper! Because in thee, hath he been led to trust.
4 You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.
Trust ye in Yahweh, unto futurity, —For, in Yah, Yahweh, is a rock of ages.
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 hath brought down the inhabitants of the height the city exalted, —He layeth it low, Layeth it low even to the ground, Levelleth it, even to the dust:
6 The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.
The foot trampleth it, —The feet of the lowly, The steps of the weak,
7 The path of the just is upright; the difficult path of the just is right to walk in.
The path of a righteous man, is, even, —O Upright One! the track of a righteous man, thou makest level.
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.
Surely in the path of thy regulations, O Yahweh, we waited for thee, —Unto thy Name and unto thy Memorial, was there a longing of 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.
With my soul, longed I for thee in the night, Yea with my spirit within me, I kept on searching for thee, —For, when thy regulations [extend] to the earth, The inhabitants of the world will have learned, 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.
Let favour be shewed to the lawless, he hath not learned righteousness, In a land of honest dealings, he acteth perversely, —And seeth not the splendour of Yahweh.
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.
O Yahweh though thy hand be lifted up, —yet do they not see, Would they might see—and turn pale at a people’s zeal, —Surely, the fire of thine enemies, must consume them!
12 Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.
O Yahweh, thou wilt ensure prosperity for us, —For even all our works, hast thou wrought 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 Yahweh, our God! Lords other than thee, have owned us, —By thyself alone, will we call upon 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.
The dead, come not to life again, The shades, do not arise, —Therefore, thou hast visited and destroyed them, And caused 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 increased the nation, O Yahweh, Thou hast increased the nation thou hast gotten thyself glory, Thou hast extended far, all the ends of the land.
16 Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.
O Yahweh! in distress, they sought thee, —They poured out a whispered prayer, 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 woman with child—Draweth near to giving birth, Is in pain, Crieth out in her pangs So, were we before thee, O Yahweh; —
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 were with child—We were in pain, As it were we brought forth wind, —Salvation, we could not accomplish for the earth, Neither were born the inhabitants of the world.
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 come to life again, My dead body, they shall arise, —Awake and shout for joy, ye that dwell in the dust For, a dew of light, is thy dew, And, earth, to the shades shall give birth.
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.
Come my people, enter into thy chambers, And shut thy doors behind thee, —Hide thee as it were a little moment Till the indignation pass over.
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 lo! Yahweh, is coming forth out of his place, To visit the iniquity of earth’s inhabitant upon him, —Therefore shall the earth unveil her shed-blood, And throw a covering, no longer over her slain.
