Isaiah, 26

1. 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.

1. On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city, he himself has set up walls and fortifications to protect us.

2. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

2. Open the gates! Let the righteous nation enter, she who is firm in faithfulness.

3. Thou wilt keep [him] in perfect peace, [whose] mind [is] stayed [on thee]: because he trusteth in thee.

3. You keep in perfect peace the one of steadfast mind, the one who trusts in you.

4. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH [is] everlasting strength:

4. Trust in Yahweh forever, for Yahweh is an everlasting Rock.

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.

5. He brought down those who dwell on high, he laid low the lofty city, he razed it to the ground, leveled it to the dust,

6. The foot shall tread it down, [even] the feet of the poor, [and] the steps of the needy.

6. Now it is trampled the poor and the lowly tread upon it.

7. The way of the just [is] uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

7. Let the righteous walk in righteousness. You make smooth 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.

8. and we only seek the way of your laws, O Yahweh. Your name and your memory are the desire of our hearts.

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.

9. My soul yearns for you in the night; for you my spirit keeps vigil. When your judgments come to earth, the world's inhabitants learn to be upright.

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.

10. But when favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn to be just. He does evil in a land of righteousness and fails to see Yahweh's majesty.

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.

11. Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, but they fail to see that. Let them see your zeal for your people, that they may be put to shame. Let your enemies be burned in the fire of your anger.

12. LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

12. Yahweh, please give us peace; for all that we accomplish is your work.

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.

13. O Yahweh, our God, other lords besides you have ruled us, but it is your name alone that we honor.

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.

14. They are now dead, never to rise again, for you have passed sentence on them. You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

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.

15. You have enlarged the nation, O Yahweh; you have given glory to your name; you have widened the borders of the country.

16. LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer [when] thy chastening [was] upon them.

16. For they sought you in distress, they cried out to you in the time of their punishment.

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.

17. As a woman in travail moans and writhes in pain, so are we now in your presence.

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.

18. We conceived, we had labor pains, but we gave birth to the wind. We have not brought salvation to the land; the inhabitants of a new world have not been born.

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.

19. Your dead will live! Their corpses will rise! Awake and sing, you who lie in the dust! Let your dew fall, O Lord, like a dew of light, and the earth will throw out her 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.

20. Come, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a moment until his wrath is over.

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.

21. For look, Yahweh is coming out of his dwelling; he will punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins. The earth will reveal the blood shed upon her and will not conceal her slain any longer.