Isaiah 26
Evangelical Heritage Version
A Victory Song
26 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah.
We have a strong city.
God sets up salvation as its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates,
so that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that guards the truth.[a]
3 You preserve perfect peace for the person
whose resolve is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for Yah the Lord[b] is the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles those who live in a high place,
in a high, secure city.
He brings it down!
He brings it down to the ground!
He throws it down into the dust!
6 It is trampled down
by the feet of the poor,
by the soles of the feet of the helpless.
A Prayer for Blessing
7 The way of the righteous is level and smooth.
You are righteous.[c] You smooth the path for the righteous.
8 Truly, Lord, we have waited for you on the path of your judgments.
Your name and your renown are what our soul desires.
9 My soul longs for you during the night.
My spirit within me looks for you early in the morning,
because when your judgments are known on earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn what righteousness is.
10 Although grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness.
They will continue to act unjustly even in a righteous land.
They will not recognize the Lord’s majesty.
11 Lord, your hand is raised, ready to strike,
but they do not see it.
But they will see your zeal for the people,
and they will be put to shame.
May fire consume your enemies.
12 O Lord, you establish peace for us.
Everything we have done, you have accomplished for us.
13 O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but we honor only your name.
14 They are dead. They will not live again.
Their departed spirits will not return.
You have dealt with them and destroyed them.
You have wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O Lord.
You have enlarged the nation!
You are glorified!
You have extended all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, they appealed to you in distress.
They whispered a prayer as you disciplined them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman nearing the time of her delivery
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so we have done before you, O Lord.
18 We have been in pain
as if we were about to give birth to a child,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have not brought salvation for the earth.
We have not given birth to people who can inhabit the world.[d]
19 But your dead ones will live.
Their[e] dead bodies will rise.
Wake up and sing for joy,
you who dwell in the dust,
because your dew will glisten like morning light,
and the earth will give up the spirits of the dead.[f]
20 Go, my people, go into your rooms,
and shut the doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while,
until his wrath has passed over.
21 Look! The Lord is coming out of his place
to deal with the guilt of those who live on the earth.
Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it.
It will no longer cover those who have been killed.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 26:2 Or remains faithful
- Isaiah 26:4 The Hebrew text here includes both the short and long forms of the divine name, Yah and Yahweh. Since we usually translate Yahweh as Lord and there is no difference in meaning between the two terms, Yah is left untranslated.
- Isaiah 26:7 The grammatical construction of the line is unclear. The word translated you are righteous is the same Hebrew root that means level and smooth. It does not appear in the Greek text and perhaps should be omitted.
- Isaiah 26:18 The meaning of this line is uncertain.
- Isaiah 26:19 The Hebrew reads my dead body, but the verb is plural.
- Isaiah 26:19 The last lines of the verse are difficult.
Isaiah 26
Lexham English Bible
Judah’s Song of Praise
26 On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
2 Open the gates so that[c] the righteous nation who keeps faithfulness may enter!
3 You will protect a firm inclination in peace,
in peace because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in Yahweh forever,
for in Yah, Yahweh you have an everlasting rock.
5 For he has thrown down the inhabitants of the height,
he lays low the lofty city.
He lays it low to the ground;
he throws her to the dust.
6 The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.”
Yahweh’s People Vindicated
7 The way of the righteous is a straight path;
you clear the level path of the righteous.[d]
8 Surely we wait for you in the path of your judgments, Yahweh,
for your name and renown are the desire of the soul.
9 I desire you with all my soul in the night;
also I seek you with my spirit within me,
for when your judgments are upon[e] the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 Though the wicked person is shown compassion, he does not learn righteousness;
he acts unjustly in the land of uprightness,
and he does not see the majesty of Yahweh.
11 Yahweh, though your hand reaches high, they do not see it.
Let them see, and let them be ashamed of the zeal of people.
Indeed, let the fire of your enemies consume them.
12 Yahweh, you will establish peace for us,
for you have done even all of our works for us.
13 Yahweh, our God, lords besides you ruled over us,
but we praise your name alone.[f]
14 The dead do not live;
dead spirits do not rise
because you have punished and destroyed them,
and you have destroyed all memory of them.
15 You have added to the nation, Yahweh.
You have added to the nation; you are honored.
You have extended all the ends of the land.
16 Yahweh, in distress they have visited you;
they poured out an incantation;[g]
your discipline was on them.
17 Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes;
she cries in her labor pains.
So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.
18 We became pregnant, we writhed;
we gave birth to wind.
We cannot bring about deliverance on the earth,
and no inhabitants of the world are born.
19 Your dead shall live; their corpses[h] shall rise.
Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust,
for your dew is celestial dew,[i]
and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.[j]
20 Go, my people, enter into your chambers
and shut your doors[k] behind you;
hide for a very little[l] while,
until the wrath has passed over.
21 For look! Yahweh is about to come out from his place
to punish the iniquity of the inhabitants[m] of the earth against him,
and the earth will disclose her blood
and will no longer cover her slain.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 26:1 Literally “a city of strength for us”
- Isaiah 26:1 Hebrew “rampart”
- Isaiah 26:2 Or “and”
- Isaiah 26:7 Literally “the level path of the righteous you make level”; the meaning of this phrase is uncertain
- Isaiah 26:9 Literally “to”
- Isaiah 26:13 Literally “alone in you we praise name you”
- Isaiah 26:16 Literally “whispering”
- Isaiah 26:19 Literally “my corpse;” some manuscripts propose an emendation to the suffix to change it to third person masculine plural (“their corpses”), which makes better sense
- Isaiah 26:19 Literally “dew of light”
- Isaiah 26:19 Or “you make the land of Rephaim fall”
- Isaiah 26:20 The reading tradition (Qere) is singular
- Isaiah 26:20 Literally “a little a little”
- Isaiah 26:21 Hebrew “inhabitant”
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