Isaiah 26
1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he makes salvation its walls and rampart.
2 Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter.
3 You keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever, because the LORD himself is the everlasting Rock.
5 For he has brought down those who lived on high; he has thrown down the lofty city, brought it down to the ground, cast it down to the dust.
6 A foot tramples it—the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the poor.
7 The path of the righteous is level; you make the way of the righteous smooth and straight.
8 Yes, on the path of your judgments, LORD, we wait for you; your name and the remembrance of you are the soul’s desire.
9 My soul longs for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me seeks you at dawn, for when your judgments come upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 If the wicked are shown mercy, they do not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness they act wickedly and do not see the majesty of the LORD.
11 LORD, your hand is raised, but they do not see it. Yet they will see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; yes, the fire meant for your enemies will consume them.”
12 “LORD, you establish peace for us, for all that we have done, you have done for us.
13 LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but we remember only you, only your name.
14 The dead will not live; the shades will not rise. Therefore you punished them, destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation and been glorified. You have extended all the borders of the land.
16 LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.
17 As a pregnant woman near the time of delivery writhes and cries out in labor, so were we before you, LORD.
18 We were pregnant, we writhed, but we gave birth to wind. We brought no salvation to the earth, and no inhabitants were born for the world.
19 Your dead will live; my corpses will rise. Wake up and sing for joy, you who dwell in the dust, for your dew is dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the shades.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the door behind you; hide for a little while, until the fury has passed.
21 For the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the guilt of the inhabitants of the earth. The earth will reveal the blood shed upon it and will no longer cover its slain.”
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