Isaiah 26
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God has made salvation its walls and ramparts.
In that day they shall sing this song in the land of Judea; Behold a strong city; and he shall make salvation [its] wall and bulwark.
2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
Open you the gates, let the nation enter that keeps righteousness, and keeps truth,
3 The mind that is stayed on you, you will keep him in perfect peace, for he trusts in you.
supporting truth, and keeping peace: for on you, O Lord,
4 Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting rock.
they have trusted with confidence for ever, the great, the eternal God;
5 For he will bring down those who live proudly; the fortified city he will lay low, he will lay low to the ground; he will level it to the dust.
who have humbled and brought down them that dwell on high, you shall cast down strong cities, and bring them to the ground.
6 It will be trampled down by the feet of the poor and the treading of the needy.
And the feet of the meek and lowly shall trample them.
7 The path of the righteous is level, Righteous One; the path of the righteous you make straight.
The way of the godly is made straight: the way of the godly is also prepared.
8 Yes, in the path of your judgments, Yahweh, we wait for you; your name and your reputation are our desire.
For the way of the Lord is judgment: we have hoped in your name, and on the remembrance [of you],
9 I have longed for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me seeks you earnestly. For when your judgments come on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn about righteousness.
which our soul longs for: my spirit seeks you very early in the morning, O God, for your commandments are a light on the earth: learn righteousness, you that dwell upon the earth.
10 Let favor be shown to the wicked one, but he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he acts wickedly and does not see the majesty of Yahweh.
For the ungodly one is put down: no one who will not learn righteousness on the earth, shall be able to do the truth: let the ungodly be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord.
11 Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, but they do not notice. But they will see your zeal for the people and be put to shame, because fire of your adversaries will devour them.
O Lord, your arm is exalted, yet they knew it not: but when they know they shall be ashamed: jealousy shall seize upon an untaught nation, and now fire shall devour the adversaries.
12 Yahweh, you will bring about peace for us; for indeed, you have also accomplished all our works for us.
O Lord our God, give us peace: for you have rendered to us all things.
13 Yahweh our God, other masters besides you have ruled over us; but we praise your name alone.
O Lord our God, take possession of us: O Lord, we know not [any] other beside you: we name your name.
14 They are dead, they will not live; they are deceased, they will not arise. Indeed, you came in judgment and destroyed them, and made every memory of them to perish.
But the dead shall not see life, neither shall physicians by any means raise [them] up: therefore you have brought [wrath] upon [them], and slain [them], and have taken away every male of them. Bring more evils upon them, O Lord;
15 You have increased the nation, Yahweh, you have increased the nation; you are honored; you have extended all the borders of the land.
bring more evils on the glorious ones of the earth.
16 Yahweh, in trouble have they looked to you; they whispered prayers when your discipline was on them.
Lord, in affliction I remembered you; your chastening was to us with small affliction.
17 As a pregnant woman nears the time for her to give birth, when she is in pain and cries out in her labor pains, so we have been before you, Lord.
And as a woman in travail draws near to be delivered, [and] cries out in her pain; so have we been to your beloved.
18 We have been pregnant, we have been in labor, but it is as if we have only given birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
We have conceived, O Lord, because of your fear, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the breath of your salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth: we shall not fall, but all that dwell upon the land shall fall.
19 Your dead will live; their dead bodies will arise. Awake and sing for joy, you who live in the dust; for your dew is the dew of light, and the earth will bring forth its dead.
The dead shall rise, and they that are in the tombs shall be raised, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice: for the dew from you is healing to them: but the land of the ungodly shall perish.
20 Go, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors behind you; hide for a little while, until the indignation has passed by.
Go, my people, enter into your closets, shut your door, hide yourself for a little season, until the anger of the Lord have passed away.
21 For, look, Yahweh is about to come out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will uncover her bloodshed, and will no longer conceal her slain.
For, behold, the Lord is bringing wrath from [his] holy place upon the dwellers on the earth: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall not cover her slain.
