Isaiah 26

¹In that day, this canticle will be sung in the land of Judah. Within it will be set the city of our strength: Zion, a savior, a wall with a bulwark.

²Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.

³The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.

⁴You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.

⁵For he will bend down those living in the heights. He will bring low the lofty city. He will lower it, even to the ground. He will tear it down, even to the dust.

⁶The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.

⁷The path of the just is upright; the difficult path of the just is right to walk in.

⁸And in the path of your judgments, O Lord, we have endured for you. Your name and your remembrance are the desire of the soul.

⁹My soul has desired you in the night. But I will also watch for you with my spirit, in my inmost heart, from the morning. When you accomplish your judgments upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn justice.

¹⁰Let us take pity on the impious one, but he will not learn justice. In the land of the holy ones, he has done iniquity, and so he will not see the glory of the Lord.

¹¹Lord, let your hand be exalted, and let them not see it. May the envious people see and be confounded. And may fire devour your enemies.

¹²Lord, you will give us peace. For all our works have been wrought for us by you.

¹³O Lord our God, other lords have possessed us apart from you, but in you alone let us remember your name.

¹⁴Let not the dead live; let not the giants rise up again. For this reason, you have visited and destroyed them, and you have perished all remembrance of them.

¹⁵You have been lenient to the people, O Lord, lenient to the people. But have you been glorified? You have removed all the limits of the earth.

¹⁶Lord, they have sought you in anguish. Your doctrine was with them, amid the tribulation of murmuring.

¹⁷Like a woman who has conceived and is approaching the time for delivery, who, in anguish, cries out in her pains, so have we become before your face, O Lord.

¹⁸We have conceived, and it is as if we were in labor, but we have given birth to wind. We have not brought forth salvation on the earth. For this reason, the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

¹⁹Your dead shall live. My slain will rise again. Be awakened, and give praise, you who live in the dust! For your dew is the dew of the light, and you shall be dragged down to the land of the giants, to ruination.

²⁰Go, my people! Enter your chambers. Close your doors behind you. Conceal yourselves for a very brief time, until the indignation has passed over you.

²¹For behold, the Lord will go forth from his place, so that he may visit the iniquity of each inhabitant of the earth against him. And the earth will reveal its blood, and it will no longer cover its slain.

Isaiah 26

¹In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein.

²Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in.

³The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee.

⁴You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever.

⁵For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust.

⁶The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

⁷The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in.

⁸And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.

⁹My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.

¹⁰Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.

¹¹Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

¹²Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us.

¹³O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.

¹⁴Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.

¹⁵Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.

¹⁶Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.

¹⁷As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.

¹⁸We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

¹⁹Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

²⁰Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

²¹For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.