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 sung is this song in the land of Judah: 'We have a strong city, Salvation He doth make walls and bulwark.
2 Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.
Open ye the gates, that enter may a righteous nation, Preserving stedfastness.
3 The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.
An imagination supported Thou fortifiest peace — peace! For in Thee it is confident.
4 You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.
Trust ye in Jehovah for ever, For in Jah Jehovah [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 bowed down the dwellers on high, A city set on high He maketh low, He maketh it low unto the earth, He causeth it to come unto the dust,
6 The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.
Tread it down doth a foot, Feet of the poor — 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 for the righteous [is] uprightness, O upright One, The path of the righteous Thou dost ponder.
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.
Also, [in] the path of Thy judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited [for] Thee, To Thy name and to Thy remembrance [Is] the desire of the 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 I desired Thee in the night, Also, [with] my spirit within me I seek Thee earnestly, For when Thy judgments [are] on the earth, The inhabitants of the world 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.
The wicked findeth favour, He hath not learned righteousness, In a land of straightforwardness he dealeth perversely, And seeth not the excellency of Jehovah.
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 Jehovah, high [is] Thy hand — they see not, They see the zeal of the people, and are ashamed, Also, the fire — Thine adversaries, consumeth them.
12 Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.
O Jehovah, Thou appointest peace to us, For, all our works also Thou hast 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 Jehovah our God, lords have ruled us besides Thee, Only, by Thee 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.
Dead — they live not, Rephaim, they rise not, Therefore Thou hast inspected and dost destroy them, Yea, thou destroyest all their memory.
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 added to the nation, O Jehovah, Thou hast added to the nation, Thou hast been honoured, Thou hast put far off all the ends of earth.
16 Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.
O Jehovah, in distress they missed Thee, They have poured out a whisper, Thy chastisement [is] on 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.
When a pregnant woman cometh near to the birth, She is pained — she crieth in her pangs, So we have been from Thy face, O Jehovah.
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 conceived, we have been pained. We have brought forth as it were wind, Salvation we do not work in the earth, Nor do the inhabitants of the world fall.
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 live — My dead body they rise. Awake and sing, ye dwellers in the dust, For the dew of herbs [is] thy dew, And the land of Rephaim thou causest to fall.
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 inner chambers, And shut thy doors behind thee, Hide thyself shortly a 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, Jehovah is coming out of His place, To charge the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him, And revealed hath the earth her blood, Nor doth she cover any more her slain!'
