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 shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation doth he appoint for walls and bulwarks.

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

Open ye the gates, and the righteous nation which keepeth faithfulness shall enter in.

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

Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the mind stayed [on thee], for he confideth in thee.

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

Confide ye in Jehovah for ever; for in Jah, Jehovah, is the 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 bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low, he layeth it low to the ground, he bringeth it even to the dust.

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

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

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

The way of the just is uprightness: thou, the Upright, dost make the path of the just even.

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.

Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; the desire of [our] soul is to thy name, and to thy memorial.

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 have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn 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.

If favour be shewn to the wicked, he doth not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness he dealeth unjustly, and beholdeth not the majesty 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.

Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, but they do not see: [yet] they shall see [thy] jealousy [for] the people, and be ashamed; yea, the fire which is for thine adversaries shall devour them.

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

Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works for us.

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

Jehovah our God, other lords than thee have had dominion over us; by thee only will 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.

[They are] dead, they shall not live; deceased, they shall not rise: for thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish.

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 increased the nation, Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified. Thou hadst removed [it] far [unto] all the ends of the earth.

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

Jehovah, in trouble they sought thee; they poured out [their] whispered prayer when thy chastening was upon 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.

As a woman with child, that draweth near her delivery, is in travail, [and] crieth out in her pangs; so have we been before thee, 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 been with child, we have been in travail, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought the deliverance of the land, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

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 shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing in triumph, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is the dew of the morning, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.

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 chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself just for a little moment, until the indignation be past.

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 behold, Jehovah cometh out of his place to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them; and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.