Isaiah 26

1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets salvation as walls and rampart.”

2Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that keeps faithfulness.

3You keep in perfect peace the mind that is stayed on you, because it trusts in you.

4Trust in the LORD forever, for in Yah, the LORD, is an everlasting rock.

5For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city; he lays it low, he lays it low to the earth; he brings it down to the dust.

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

7The path of the righteous is level; O Upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.

8Indeed, in the path of your judgments, O Yahweh, we have waited for you; for your name and your remembrance are the desire of the soul.

9My soul has desired you in the night; indeed, my spirit within me seeks you early. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10Though favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in a land of uprightness he acts unjustly, and he does not see the majesty of Yahweh.

11O Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see. They will see and be put to shame by the zeal for your people; indeed, the fire for your enemies will consume them.

12O Yahweh, you will establish peace for us, for indeed you have accomplished all our works for us.

13O Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but through you alone we make mention of your name.

14The dead do not live; the shades do not rise. Therefore you have punished them and destroyed them, and you have made all memory of them perish.

15You have increased the nation, O Yahweh; you have increased the nation; you have gained glory; you have extended all the borders of the land.

16O Yahweh, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.

17Like a pregnant woman who is about to give birth writhes and cries out in her labor pains, so were we before you, O Yahweh.

18We were pregnant, we writhed in labor; as it were, we gave birth to wind. We accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world were not born.

19Your dead will live; my dead bodies will rise. Awake and shout for joy, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is a dew of lights, and the earth will cast out the dead.

20Go, my people, enter your rooms, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little moment until the wrath has passed by.

21For look, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth upon him, and the earth will uncover her blood and will no longer cover her slain.