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Trust the Rock of Ages

26 In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city.
He appoints salvation
    as its walls and ramparts.
Open the gates![a]
Let the righteous nation enter—
    one that keeps faith.
You keep in perfect peace
one whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You.
Trust in Adonai forever,
for the LORD Adonai is a Rock of ages.
For He humbles those dwelling on high,
leveling the lofty city,
leveling it to the ground,
bringing it down to the dust.

Feet will trample it down,
feet of the afflicted,
the footsteps of the poor.
The way of the righteous is straight.
Upright One, You make smooth the path of the righteous.
Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
Adonai, we have waited for You.
Your Name and Your remembrance
    is the desire of our soul.
My soul longs for You at night,
yes, my spirit within me seeks You.
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 Though grace is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness.
Even in a land of uprightness he will act wrongly,
not perceiving the majesty of Adonai.
11 Adonai, Your hand is lifted up,
yet they do not see it;
They will see Your zeal for the people and be put to shame.
Yes, fire will devour Your enemies.

Your Dead Will Live!

12 Adonai, You will establish shalom for us,
for all our works You have done for us.
13 Adonai Eloheinu, other lords beside You have had dominion over us,
but we remember Your Name alone.
14 The dead do not live—
    dead souls do not rise.
Thus You punished and destroyed them
    and wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have increased the nation, Adonai,
You have increased the nation.
You are glorified as You have expanded
    all the borders of the land.
16 Adonai, they sought You in distress,
they poured out a whispered prayer
when Your discipline was upon them.
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so we were before You, Adonai.
18 We have been with child,
we have been in pain,
yet we gave birth to wind.
We are accomplishing no deliverance for the earth,
nor are inhabitants of the world coming to life.

19 Yet it will be:
“Your dead will live!
    My corpses will rise!
Awake and shout for joy,
    you who dwell in the dust!
Your dew is like the dew of the dawn.
The land of dead souls will come to life!

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms,
and shut your doors behind you.
Hide for a little while,
    until the wrath is past.
21 For behold, Adonai is coming out from His place
to punish inhabitants of the earth for iniquity.
The earth will disclose her bloodshed,
    no longer covering up her slain.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:2 cf. Rev. 22:14.

Judah’s Song of Victory

26 In 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.
Open the gates,
    that the righteous nation which keeps faith
    may enter in.
Thou dost keep him in perfect peace,
    whose mind is stayed on thee,
    because he trusts in thee.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
    for the Lord God
    is an everlasting rock.
For he has brought low
    the inhabitants of the height,
    the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
    casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it,
    the feet of the poor,
    the steps of the needy.”

The way of the righteous is level;
    thou[a] dost make smooth the path of the righteous.
In the path of thy judgments,
    O Lord, we wait for thee;
thy memorial name
    is the desire of our soul.
My soul yearns for thee in the night,
    my spirit within me earnestly seeks thee.
For when thy judgments are in the earth,
    the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 If favor is shown to the wicked,
    he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals perversely
    and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, thy hand is lifted up,
    but they see it not.
Let them see thy zeal for thy people, and be ashamed.
    Let the fire for thy adversaries consume them.
12 O Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us,
    thou hast wrought for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God,
    other lords besides thee have ruled over us,
    but thy name alone we acknowledge.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
    they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end thou hast visited them with destruction
    and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 But thou hast increased the nation, O Lord,
    thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified;
    thou hast enlarged all the borders of the land.

16 O Lord, in distress they sought thee,
    they poured out a prayer[b]
    when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like a woman with child,
    who writhes and cries out in her pangs,
    when she is near her time,
so were we because of thee, O Lord;
18     we were with child, we writhed,
    we have as it were brought forth wind.
We have wrought no deliverance in the earth,
    and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 Thy dead shall live, their bodies[c] shall rise.
    O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For thy dew is a dew of light,
    and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it fall.

20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
    and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
    until the wrath is past.
21 For behold, the Lord is coming forth out of his place
    to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her,
    and will no more cover her slain.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:7 Cn Compare Gk: Heb thou (that art) upright
  2. Isaiah 26:16 Heb uncertain
  3. Isaiah 26:19 Cn Compare Syr Tg: Heb my body