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; His aid doth God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

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

Open ye the gates, That the righteous nation may enter in, The nation that keepeth the truth.

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

Him that is of a steadfast mind Thou wilt keep in continual peace, Because he trusteth in thee.

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

Trust ye in Jehovah forever, For the Lord Jehovah is an everlasting rock.

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 hath brought down the inhabitants of the fortress; The lofty city he hath laid low; He hath laid her low even to the ground; He hath levelled her with the dust.

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

The foot trampleth upon her, The feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

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

The way of the upright is a smooth way; Thou, O most righteous, doth level the path of the upright!

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.

In the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for thee; The desire of our souls is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

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.

My soul longeth for thee in the night, And my spirit within me seeketh thee in the morning; 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.

Though favor be shown to the wicked, He will not learn righteousness; In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, And have no regard to 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.

Thy hand, O Jehovah, is lifted up, yet do they not see; But they shall see with shame thy zeal for thy people; Yea, fire shall devour thine adversaries.

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

Thou, O Jehovah, wilt give us peace; For all our works thou doest for us.

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

O Jehovah, our God, other lords have had dominion over us besides thee; Only through thee do we call upon 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; They are shades, they shall not rise. For thou hast visited and destroyed them, And caused all the 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 wilt enlarge the nation, O Jehovah! Thou wilt enlarge the nation; thou wilt glorify thyself; Thou wilt widely extend all the borders of the land.

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

O Jehovah, in affliction they sought thee; They poured out their prayer, when thy chastisement 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, when her delivery is near, Is in anguish, and crieth aloud in her pangs, So have we been, far from thy presence, O 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 anguish, Yet have, as it were, brought forth wind. To the land we bring no deliverance; Nor are the inhabitants of the land born.

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.

O might thy dead live again, Might the dead bodies of my people arise! Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust! For thy dew is like the dew upon plants, And the earth shall bring forth her 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 behind thee; Hide thyself for a little moment, Until the indignation be overpast!

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 forth from his place, To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth shall disclose her blood, And shall no longer cover her slain.