(A)With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 (B)Let grace be shown to the wicked,
Yet he will not learn righteousness;
In (C)the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, (D)they will not see.
But they will see and be ashamed
For [a]their envy of people;
Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:11 Or Your zeal for the people

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.

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I[a] look for[b] you during the night;
my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,
for when your judgments come upon the earth,
those who live in the world learn about justice.[c]
10 If the wicked are shown mercy,
they do not learn about justice.[d]
Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly;[e]
they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.
11 O Lord, you are ready to act,[f]
but they don’t even notice.
They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind;[g]
yes, fire will consume your enemies.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:9 tn Heb “with my soul I.” This is a figure for the speaker himself (“I”).
  2. Isaiah 26:9 tn Or “long for, desire.” The speaker acknowledges that he is eager to see God come in judgment (see vv. 8, 9b).
  3. Isaiah 26:9 tn The translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “those who live in the world learn to live in a righteous manner” (cf. NCV).
  4. Isaiah 26:10 tn As in verse 9b, the translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “they do not learn to live in a righteous manner.”
  5. Isaiah 26:10 tn Heb “in a land of uprightness they act unjustly”; NRSV “they deal perversely.”
  6. Isaiah 26:11 tn Heb “O Lord, your hand is lifted up.”
  7. Isaiah 26:11 tn Heb “They will see and be ashamed of zeal of people.” Some take the prefixed verbs as jussives and translate the statement as a prayer, “Let them see and be put to shame.” The meaning of the phrase קִנְאַת עָם (qinʾat ʿam, “zeal of people”) is unclear. The translation assumes that this refers to God’s angry judgment upon people. Another option is to understand the phrase as referring to God’s zealous, protective love of his covenant people. In this case one might translate, “by your zealous devotion to your people.”
  8. Isaiah 26:11 tn Heb “yes, fire, your enemies, will consume them.” Many understand the prefixed verb form to be jussive and translate, “let [fire] consume” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The mem suffixed to the verb may be enclitic; if a pronominal suffix, it refers back to “your enemies.”