Isaiah 26

1 In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.

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.

2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith.

Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.

3 You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.

The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.

4 Trust in the LORD forever; for in the LORD, the LORD, is an everlasting Rock.

You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.

5 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.

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.

6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”

The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.

7 The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.

The path of the just is upright; the difficult path of the just is right to walk in.

8 Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

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.

9 With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

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.

10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see the LORD’s majesty.

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.

11 LORD, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

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.

12 LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.

Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.

13 LORD our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but we will only acknowledge your name.

O Lord our God, other lords have possessed us apart from you, but in you alone let us remember your name.

14 The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.

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.

15 You have increased the nation, O LORD. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

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.

16 LORD, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.

17 Just 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 you, LORD.

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.

18 We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

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.

19 Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

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.

20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.

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.

21 For, behold, the LORD comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

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.