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 this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God has made salvation its walls and ramparts.

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

Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

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

The mind that is stayed on you, you will keep him in perfect peace, for he trusts in you.

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

Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, 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 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.

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

It will be trampled down by the feet of the poor and the treading of the needy.

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

The path of the righteous is level, Righteous One; the path of the righteous you make straight.

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.

Yes, in the path of your judgments, Yahweh, we wait for you; your name and your reputation are our desire.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Yahweh, you will bring about peace for us; for indeed, you have also accomplished 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.

Yahweh our God, other masters besides you have ruled over us; but we praise your name alone.

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 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.

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.

You have increased the nation, Yahweh, you have increased the nation; you are honored; you have extended all the borders of the land.

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

Yahweh, in trouble have they looked to you; they whispered prayers when your discipline was on 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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Go, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors behind you; hide for a little while, until the indignation has passed by.

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, 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.