Isaiah 26
1 At that time, this will be the song that is sung in the land of Judah: “Ours is a strong city! Its walls and defenses are our salvation!
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.
2 Open the gates so the nation who follows the right can come in, the nation that stays faithful.
Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in.
3 You will keep in complete peace those who keep their minds focused on you, because they trust in you.
Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Trust ye in Jehovah forever, for in Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock.
5 He brings down those who live so high and mighty; he demolishes the proud city with its high walls, bringing it down to the ground, into the dust.
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.
6 The poor tread it underfoot; the oppressed walk on top of it.
The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
7 You God, do what is right, and you straighten out the way for those who live right; you smooth out their path.
The way of the just is uprightness. Thou who are upright directs the path of the just.
8 Yes, we follow your instructions, Lord, we put our hope in you. What we most want is to remember you and your wonderful character.
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.
9 I look for you in the night; deep inside me I long for you. When your laws are shown to the earth, then the people of the world learn what is right.
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.
10 Though grace is shown to the wicked, they don't learn to do right. Even in a country where people do what's right, they continue to do evil and they don't think about how great the Lord is.
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.
11 Lord, you are holding your hand up, but they don't see it. Let them see your passionate commitment for your people, and be embarrassed; may the fire reserved for your enemies destroy them!
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.
12 Lord, you give us peace and prosperity; everything we've achieved you have done for us.
Jehovah, thou will ordain peace for us, for thou have also wrought all our works for us.
13 Lord our God, there have been other lords besides you who have ruled us, but you are the only one we worship.
O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only we will make mention of thy name.
14 They are dead, they will not live again; they will not rise from the grave. Lord, you punished them and destroyed them—even wiping out every memory about them.
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.
15 You have made the nation grow, Lord, you have made the nation grow. You have expanded our borders of the land, and we honored you.
Thou have increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou have increased the nation. Thou are glorified. Thou have enlarged all the borders of the land.
16 Lord, when we were suffering we came to you, pouring out our prayers like whispers as you disciplined us.
Jehovah, in trouble they have visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman giving birth tosses about and cries out in pain, that's what we were like in your presence, Lord.
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.
18 However, even though we became pregnant and we tossed about in pain, we gave birth to nothing but air. We did not bring about the salvation of the earth, and the people of the world have not become alive.
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.
19 But those who died in you, Lord, will live! Their bodies will rise again! Wake up, and sing for joy, you people sleeping in the dust, for the dew you receive is like the dew of the morning giving life to those in the grave.
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.
20 My people, go inside your homes and close your doors behind you. Hide there for a little while until the fury has passed.
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.
21 Watch out! The Lord is coming from where he lives to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it; the earth won't hide those who have been killed any no longer.”
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.
