Isaiah 26

1 In that day this song is sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city, He makes salvation [for] walls and bulwark.

In that day shall this canticle be sung the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein.

2 Open the gates, That a righteous nation may enter, Preserving steadfastness.

Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in.

3 You keep [him] in peace [whose] imagination [is] stayed—peace! For he is confident in You.

The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee.

4 Trust in YHWH forever, For in YAH—YHWH [is] a rock of ages,

You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever.

5 For He bowed down the dwellers on high, A city set on high He makes low, He makes it low to the earth, He causes it to come to the dust,

For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust.

6 A foot treads it down, Feet of the poor—steps of the weak.

The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

7 The path for the righteous [is] uprightness, O upright One, You ponder the path of the righteous.

The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in.

8 Also, [in] the path of Your judgments, O YHWH, we have waited [for] You, To Your Name and to Your remembrance [Is] the desire of the soul.

And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.

9 I desired You in the night [with] my soul, Also, I seek You earnestly [with] my spirit within me, For when Your judgments [are] on the earth, The inhabitants of the world have learned righteousness.

My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.

10 The wicked finds favor, He has not learned righteousness, He deals perversely in a land of straightforwardness, And does not see the excellence of YHWH.

Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.

11 O YHWH, Your hand [is] high—they do not see, They see the zeal of the people, and are ashamed, Also, the fire consumes Your adversaries.

Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

12 O YHWH, You appoint peace to us, For You have also worked all our works for us.

Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us.

13 O our God YHWH, lords have ruled us besides You, Only, by You we make mention of Your Name.

O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.

14 Dead—they do not live, Rephaim, they do not rise, Therefore You have inspected and destroy them, Indeed, you destroy all their memory.

Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and best destroyed all their memory.

15 You have added to the nation, O YHWH, You have added to the nation, You have been honored, You have put all the ends of the earth far off.

Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.

16 O YHWH, in distress they missed You, They have poured out a whisper, Your discipline [is] on them.

Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.

17 When a pregnant woman comes near to the birth, She is pained—she cries in her pangs, So we have been from Your face, O YHWH.

As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.

18 We have conceived, we have been pained. We have brought forth, as it were, wind, We do not work salvation in the earth, Nor do the inhabitants of the world fall.

We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

19 Your dead live—My dead body, they rise. Awake and sing, you dwellers in the dust, For the dew of herbs [is] your dew, And you cause the land of Rephaim to fall.

Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

20 Come, My people, enter into your inner chambers, And shut your doors behind you, Hide yourself shortly [for] a moment until the indignation passes over.

Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

21 For behold, YHWH is coming out of His place, To charge the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth on him, And the earth has revealed her blood, Nor does she cover her slain anymore!”

For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.