Isaiah 26
The Voice
26 When that time arrives, the people of this place called Judah will sing this song:
People: By the grace of God, our city is strong;
its structures and defenses He made secure.
2 Now open the gates to welcome the righteous,
so that those who keep faith may enter in.
3 You will keep the peace, a perfect peace, for all who trust in You,
for those who dedicate their hearts and minds to You.
4 So trust in the Eternal One forever,
for He is like a great Rock—strong, stable, trustworthy, and lasting.
5 He humbles the high and mighty.
Even the indomitable city falls before His strength, reducing it to dust.
6 The feet of the poor, the weak, the infirm and forgotten
will trample the dust of the formerly great.
7 The path of those who do right is straight and smooth.
O God, You who are upright, You make the way of the righteous level.
8 When we act in justice and righteousness—following Your laws—we wait for You.
We are eager to hear Your holy name and remember Your ways.
9 At night I long for You with all that is in Me.
When morning comes, I seek You with all my heart.
For when Your justice is done on earth,
then everyone in the world will learn righteousness.
10 If grace is extended to those who do wrong,
the perpetrators never learn what is right.
Even when surrounded by upright people, they gravitate to evil
and never even notice the awesome beauty of the Eternal.
11 O Eternal One, even when Your hand is raised against them, they do not see it.
When they finally do see how passionately
You act on the people’s behalf, they will be ashamed.
Ah, let the fire that consumes Your enemies consume them.
12 Eternal One, You are preparing peace for us;
in fact, everything we have accomplished has come from You.
13 Others have tried to rule over us,
but You, Eternal One, are our God.
At the end of the day, when all is done,
we acknowledge only You.
14 But now these would-be rulers are dead, never to live again;
these shadowy spirits will never rise.
You have punished and utterly destroyed them—
You erased every memory of them.
15 By contrast You have made this people great, Eternal One—
made this nation vital and strong. To you be all glory!
You have expanded the borders of this land.
16 When You corrected their wrongdoing, Eternal One,
they could hardly even whisper a prayer.
Weak with distress, they looked to You for help.
17 You witnessed us twist and turn before You, O Eternal,
like a birthing woman in agony of labor.
18 We were that woman, laboring to deliver,
but we gave birth only to futility and emptiness.
We couldn’t deliver the earth, save it, renew it.
We couldn’t make it teem with life.
19 But Your dead will live; their lifeless bodies will rise up again!
You who sleep in the dust, get up and shout for joy!
The dew of a new day will wash you glistening fresh,
and the earth will push forth those who had passed before.
20 O my people, hide in your rooms for a time. Shut the doors behind you
and hide away until God’s anger has passed.
21 See here, the Eternal One will emerge from His place
to punish the earth’s inhabitants for their wrongdoing.
The earth will not hide the blood that has been spilled into her dust;
she will no longer cover those who have been murdered.
Isaiah 26
King James Version
26 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:
5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
12 Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
13 O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
16 Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.