Isaiah, 26

1. That day, this song will be sung in Judah: 'We have a fortress city, the walls and ramparts provide safety.

1. 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.

2. Open the gates! Let the upright nation come in, the nation that keeps faith!

2. Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in.

3. This is the plan decreed: you will guarantee peace, the peace entrusted to you.

3. Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee.

4. Trust in Yahweh for ever, for Yahweh is a rock for ever.

4. Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

5. He has brought low the dwellers on the heights, the lofty citadel; he lays it low, brings it to the ground, flings it down in the dust.

5. 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.

6. It will be trodden under foot, by the feet of the needy, the steps of the weak.'

6. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy."

7. The path of the Upright One is honesty; you smooth the honest way of the upright.

7. The way of the righteous is level; thou dost make smooth the path of the righteous.

8. Following the path of your judgements, Yahweh, we set our hopes in you, your name, your memory are all our soul desires.

8. In the path of thy judgments, O LORD, we wait for thee; thy memorial name is the desire of our soul.

9. At night my soul longs for you and my spirit within me seeks you out; for when your judgements appear on earth the inhabitants of the world learn what saving justice is.

9. 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 pity is shown to the wicked without his learning what saving justice is, he will act wrongly in the land of right conduct and not see the majesty of Yahweh.

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. Yahweh, your hand is raised but they do not see! The antagonists of your people will look and grow pale; with your fiery wrath you will devour your enemies.

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. Yahweh, you will grant us peace, having completed all our undertakings for us.

12. O LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us, thou hast wrought for us all our works.

13. Yahweh our God, other lords than you have ruled us but, loyal to you alone, we invoke your name.

13. O LORD our God, other lords besides thee have ruled over us, but thy name alone we acknowledge.

14. The dead will not come back to life, the shadows will not rise again, for you have punished them, annihilated them, wiping out their very memory.

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. You have made the nation larger, Yahweh, made the nation larger and won yourself glory, you have rolled back the frontiers of the country.

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. Yahweh, in distress they had recourse to you, they expended themselves in prayer, since your punishment was on them.

16. O LORD, in distress they sought thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17. As a pregnant woman near her time of delivery writhes and cries out in her pangs, so have we been, Yahweh, in your eyes:

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 have been pregnant, we have writhed, but we have given birth only to wind: we have not given salvation to the earth, no inhabitants for the world have been brought to birth.

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. Your dead will come back to life, your corpses will rise again. Wake up and sing, you dwellers in the dust, for your dew will be a radiant dew, but the earth will give birth to the shades.

19. Thy dead shall live, their bodies 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. Go, my people, go to your private room, shut yourselves in. Hide yourselves a little while until the retribution has passed.

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 see, Yahweh emerges from his dwelling to punish the inhabitants of earth for their guilt; and the earth will reveal the blood shed on it and no longer hide its slain.

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.