1At that time a song will be sung in the land of Judah. It will say, ‘We have a strong city. God’s saving power surrounds it like walls and towers.2Open its gates so that those who do what is right can enter. They are the people who remain faithful to God.3LORD, you will give perfect peace to those who commit themselves to be faithful to you. That’s because they trust in you.4‘Trust in the LORD for ever. The LORD himself is the Rock. The LORD will keep us safe for ever.5He brings down those who are proud. He pulls down cities that have high walls. They fall down flat on the ground. He throws them down to the dust.6The feet of those who were treated badly trample on them. Those who were poor walk all over them.’7The path of godly people is level. You are the God who does what is right. You make their way smooth.8LORD, we are living the way your laws command us to live. We are waiting for you to act. We want your honour and fame to be known.9My heart longs for you at night. My spirit longs for you in the morning. You will come and judge the earth. Then the people of the world will learn to do what is right.10Sometimes grace is shown to sinful people. But they still don’t learn to do what is right. They keep on doing evil even in a land where others are honest and fair. They don’t have any respect for the majesty of the LORD.11LORD, you have raised your hand high to punish them. But they don’t even see it. Let them see how much you love your people. Then they will be put to shame. Let the fire you are saving for your enemies burn them up.12LORD, you give us peace. You are the one who has done everything we’ve accomplished.13LORD, you are our God. Other masters besides you have ruled over us. But your name is the only one we honour.14Those other masters are now dead. They will never live again. Their spirits won’t rise from the dead. You punished them and destroyed them. You wiped out all memory of them.15LORD, you have made our nation grow. You have made it larger. You have gained glory for yourself. You have increased the size of our land.16LORD, when your people were suffering, they came to you. When you punished them, they could barely whisper a prayer.17LORD, you made us like a woman who is about to have a baby. She groans and cries out in pain.18We were pregnant and groaned with pain. But nothing was born. We didn’t bring your saving power to the earth. And the people of the world have not come to life.19LORD, your people who have died will live again. Their bodies will rise from the dead. Let those who lie in the grave wake up and shout for joy. You give life, LORD, like the dew of the morning. So the earth will give up its dead people.20My people, go into your houses. Shut the doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while. Do it until the LORD’s anger is over.21He is coming from the place where he lives. He will punish the people of the earth for their sins. The blood spilled on the earth will be brought out into the open. The ground will no longer hide those who have been killed.
Isaiah 26
English Standard Version
You Keep Him in Perfect Peace
1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. (Isa 27:2; Isa 60:18)2Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. (Ps 118:19)3You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isa 30:15)4Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.5For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. (Isa 25:12)6The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.” (Isa 25:4)7The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous. (1Sa 2:9; Ps 37:23)8In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. (Ex 3:15)9My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. (2Ch 33:12; Isa 26:16)10If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. (Ps 73:3)11O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. (Ps 21:9; Isa 5:12; Isa 33:14; Mic 5:9)12O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. (Isa 9:7; Mic 5:5)13O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance. (2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 18:4; Ps 20:7; Isa 2:8; Isa 2:20)14They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.15But you have increased the nation, O Lord, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land. (Isa 9:3; Isa 54:2)16O Lord, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. (Isa 37:1; Ho 5:15)17Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord; (Isa 13:8)18we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. (Isa 26:17)19Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. (Eze 37:12; Da 12:2; Ho 13:14; Ho 14:5)20Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. (Isa 10:25)21For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. (Isa 24:5; Mic 1:3)