Isaiah 26
1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: 1 We have a strong city; God has made salvation its walls and ramparts. 1
2Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 1
3The mind that is stayed on you, you will keep him in perfect peace, for he trusts in you. 1
4Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting rock. 1
5For he will bring down those who live proudly; the fortified city 1 he will lay low, he will lay low to the ground; he will level it to the dust. 1
6It will be trampled down by the feet of the poor and the treading of the needy. 1
7The path of the righteous is level, Righteous One; the path of the righteous you make straight. 1
8Yes, in the path of your judgments, Yahweh, we wait for you; 1 your name and your reputation are our desire. 1
9I have longed for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me seeks you earnestly. 1 For when your judgments come on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn about righteousness. 1
10Let favor be shown to the wicked one, but he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he acts wickedly 1 and does not see the majesty of Yahweh. 1
11Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, but they do not notice. 1 But they will see your zeal for the people and be put to shame, because fire of your adversaries will devour them. 1
12Yahweh, you will bring about peace for us; for indeed, you have also accomplished all our works for us. 1
13Yahweh our God, other masters besides you have ruled over us; but we praise your name alone. 1
14They are dead, they will not live; they are deceased, they will not arise. 1 Indeed, you came in judgment and destroyed them, and made every memory of them to perish. 1
15You have increased the nation, Yahweh, you have increased the nation; you are honored; 1 you have extended all the borders of the land. 1
16Yahweh, in trouble have they looked to you; they whispered prayers when your discipline was on them. + 26:16 This difficult verse has many different translations among modern versions. 1
17As a pregnant woman nears the time for her to give birth, 1 when she is in pain and cries out in her labor pains, 1 so we have been before you, Lord. 1
18We 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, 1 and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. 1
19Your dead will live; their dead bodies will arise. Awake and sing for joy, you who live in the dust; 1 for your dew is the dew of light, and the earth will bring forth its dead. 1
20Go, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors behind you; 1 hide for a little while, until the indignation has passed by. 1
21For, look, Yahweh is about to come out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; 1 the earth will uncover her bloodshed, and will no longer conceal her slain.