Isaiah 26

Song of Trust in God's Protection

1 ¹In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a ²strong city; He sets up walls and ramparts for ³security.

2 "Open the ⁴gates, that the ⁵righteous nation may enter, The one that remains faithful.

3 "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect ⁶peace, Because he trusts in You.

4 "⁷Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting ⁸Rock.

5 "For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the ⁹unassailable city; ¹⁰He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

6 "¹¹The foot will trample it, The feet of the ¹²afflicted, the steps of the helpless."

7 The ¹³way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, ¹⁴make the path of the righteous level.

8 Indeed, while following the way of ¹⁵Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; ¹⁶Your name, even Your ¹⁷memory, is the desire of our souls.

9 ¹⁸At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me ¹⁹seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world ²⁰learn righteousness.

10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not ²¹learn righteousness; He ²²deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.

11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they ²³do not see it. They see ²⁴Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, ²⁵fire will devour Your enemies.

12 LORD, You will establish ²⁶peace for us, Since You have also performed for us all our works.

13 O LORD our God, ²⁷other masters besides You have ruled us; But through You alone we ²⁸confess Your name.

14 ²⁹The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; Therefore You have ³⁰punished and destroyed them, And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

15 ³¹You have increased the nation, O LORD, You have increased the nation, You are glorified; You have ³²extended all the borders of the land.

16 O LORD, they sought You ³³in distress; They could only whisper a prayer, Your chastening was upon them.

17 ³⁴As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth, She writhes and cries out in her labor pains, Thus were we before * You, O LORD.

18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor, We ³⁵gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth, Nor were ³⁶inhabitants of the world born.

19 Your ³⁷dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, ³⁸awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

20 Come, my people, ³⁹enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little ⁴⁰while Until ⁴¹indignation runs its course.

21 For behold, the LORD is about to ⁴²come out from His place To ⁴³punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will ⁴⁴reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain.

Isaiah 26 Commentary

Chapter 26

The Divine mercies encourage to confidence in God. (1-4) His judgments. (5-11) His people exhorted to wait upon Him. (12-19) Deliverance promised. (20,21)

Verses 1-4 "That day," seems to mean when the New Testament Babylon shall be levelled with the ground. The unchangeable promise and covenant of the Lord are the walls of the church of God. The gates of this city shall be open. Let sinners then be encouraged to join to the Lord. Thou wilt keep him in peace; in perfect peace, inward peace, outward peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace at all times, in all events. Trust in the Lord for that peace, that portion, which will be for ever. Whatever we trust to the world for, it will last only for a moment; but those who trust in God shall not only find in him, but shall receive from him, strength that will carry them to that blessedness which is for ever. Let us then acknowledge him in all our ways, and rely on him in all trials.

Verses 5-11 The way of the just is evenness, a steady course of obedience and holy conversation. And it is their happiness that God makes their way plain and easy. It is our duty, and will be our comfort, to wait for God, to keep up holy desires toward him in the darkest and most discouraging times. Our troubles must never turn us from God; and in the darkest, longest night of affliction, with our souls must we desire him; and this we must wait and pray to him for. We make nothing of our religion, whatever our profession may be, if we do not make heart-work of it. Though we come ever so early, we shall find God ready to receive us. The intention of afflictions is to teach righteousness: blessed is the man whom the Lord thus teaches. But sinners walk contrary to him. They will go on in their evil ways, because they will not consider what a God he is whose laws they persist in despising. Scorners and the secure will shortly feel, what now they will not believe, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. They will not see the evil of sin; but they shall see. Oh that they would abandon their sins, and turn to the Lord, that he may have mercy upon them.

Verses 12-19 Every creature, every business, any way serviceable to our comfort, God makes to be so; he makes that work for us which seemed to make against us. They had been slaves of sin and Satan; but by the Divine grace they were taught to look to be set free from all former masters. The cause opposed to God and his kingdom will sink at last. See our need of afflictions. Before, prayer came drop by drop; now they pour it out, it comes now like water from a fountain. Afflictions bring us to secret prayer. Consider Christ as the Speaker addressing his church. His resurrection from the dead was an earnest of all the deliverance foretold. The power of his grace, like the dew or rain, which causes the herbs that seem dead to revive, would raise his church from the lowest state. But we may refer to the resurrection of the dead, especially of those united to Christ.

Verses 20-21 When dangers threaten, it is good to retire and lie hid; when we commend ourselves to God to hide us, he will hide us either under heaven or in heaven. Thus we shall be safe and happy in the midst of tribulations. It is but for a short time, as it were for a little moment; when over, it will seem as nothing. God's place is the mercy-seat; there he delights to be: when he punishes, he comes out of his place, for he has no pleasure in the death of sinners. But there is hardly any truth more frequently repeated in Scripture, than God's determined purpose to punish the workers of iniquity. Let us keep close to the Lord, and separate from the world; and let us seek comfort in secret prayer. A day of vengeance is coming on the world, and before it comes we are to expect tribulation and suffering. But because the Christian looks for these things, shall he be restless and dismayed? No, let him repose himself in his God. Abiding in him, the believer is safe. And let us wait patiently the fulfilling of God's promises.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 12:1
• 2. Isaiah 14:31; Isaiah 31:5, 9; Isaiah 33:5, 6, 20-24
• 3. Isaiah 60:18
• 4. Isaiah 60:11, 18; Isaiah 62:10
• 5. Isaiah 45:25; Isaiah 54:14, 17; Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:3; Isaiah 62:1, 2
• 6. Isaiah 26:12; Isaiah 27:5; Isaiah 57:19; Isaiah 66:12
• 7. Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 50:10; Isaiah 51:5
• 8. Isaiah 17:10; Isaiah 30:29; Isaiah 44:8
• 9. Isaiah 25:12
• 10. Job 40:11-13
• 11. Isaiah 28:3
• 12. Isaiah 3:14, 15; Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 29:19
• 13. Isaiah 57:2
• 14. Psalms 25:4, 5; Psalms 27:11; Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 52:12
• 15. Isaiah 51:4; Isaiah 56:1
• 16. Isaiah 12:4; Isaiah 24:15; Isaiah 25:1; Isaiah 26:13
• 17. Exodus 3:15
• 18. Psalms 63:5, 6; Psalms 77:2; Psalms 119:62; Isaiah 50:10; Luke 6:12
• 19. Psalms 63:1; Psalms 78:34; Matthew 6:33
• 20. Isaiah 55:6; Hosea 5:15
• 21. Isaiah 22:12, 13; Isaiah 32:6, 7
• 22. Hosea 11:7; John 5:37, 38
• 23. Isaiah 44:9, 18
• 24. Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 37:32; Isaiah 59:17
• 25. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 9:18, 19; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 66:15, 24; Hebrews 10:27
• 26. Isaiah 26:3
• 27. Isaiah 2:8; Isaiah 10:11
• 28. Isaiah 63:7
• 29. Deuteronomy 4:28; Psalms 135:17; Isaiah 8:19; Habakkuk 2:19
• 30. Isaiah 10:3
• 31. Isaiah 9:3
• 32. Isaiah 33:17; Isaiah 54:2, 3
• 33. Isaiah 37:3; Hosea 5:15
• 34. Isaiah 13:8; Isaiah 21:3; John 16:21
• 35. Isaiah 33:11; Isaiah 59:4
• 36. Psalms 17:14
• 37. Isaiah 25:8; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Daniel 12:2; Hosea 13:14
• 38. Ephesians 5:14
• 39. Exodus 12:22, 23; Psalms 91:1, 4
• 40. Psalms 30:5; Isaiah 54:7, 8; 2 Corinthians 4:17
• 41. Isaiah 10:5, 25; Isaiah 13:5; Isaiah 34:2; Isaiah 66:14
• 42. Micah 1:3; Jude 14
• 43. Isaiah 13:11; Isaiah 30:12-14; Isaiah 65:6, 7
• 44. Job 16:18; Luke 11:50

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "salvation"
• [b]. Lit "keeps faithfulness"
• [c]. Heb YAH, usually rendered LORD
• [d]. Lit with "my soul I long"
• [e]. Lit with "my spirit...I seek"
• [f]. Lit "has"
• [g]. Or "Let them see...and be"
• [h]. Or "let the fire for Your adversaries devour them"
• [i]. Or "cause to be remembered"
• [j]. Or "shades"
• [k]. Lit "sound forth a whisper"
• [l]. Lit "fallen"
• [m]. So with some ancient versions; Heb "My"
• [n]. Lit "lights"
• [o]. Lit "cause to fall"
• [p]. Or "shades"
• [q]. Lit "moment"
• [r]. Lit "passes over"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 26

This chapter contains a song of praise for the safety and prosperity of the church, and the destruction of its enemies. The church is represented as a strong city, whose walls and bulwarks are salvation, Isa 26:1 it is said to have gates which are to be opened to a righteous nation, Isa 26:2 its inhabitants, being such who trust in the Lord, are promised perfect peace, Isa 26:3 hence the saints are exhorted to trust in him, Isa 26:4 then follows an account of another city, described as lofty, and its inhabitants as dwelling on high, who are brought down, and trampled on, by the feet of the poor and needy, Isa 26:5,6 when the prophet returns to the righteous, and asserts their way to be uprightness, because their path is weighed or levelled by God the most upright, Isa 26:7 and in the name of the church declares that they had waited for the Lord in the way of his judgments; and that the desire of their souls was to his name, and the remembrance of it; and that they continued, and would continue, to desire him, and seek after him, seeing righteousness was to be learned by his judgments, Isa 26:8,9 and though the wicked would not be brought to repentance and reformation by the goodness of God, nor take notice of his hand, yet they should see and be ashamed, and destroyed at last, Isa 26:10,11 but notwithstanding these judgments of God in the earth, the church professes her faith in the Lord, that he would give her peace and prosperity, from the consideration of what he had wrought for her, and in her, Isa 26:12 and rejects all other lords but him, Isa 26:13 who were dead, and should not live again, but were visited and destroyed, and their memory made to perish, Isa 26:14 but the righteous nation should be increased, though they should meet with trouble, which would cause them to go to the throne of grace, and there pour out their complaints, express their pain and distresses, and the disappointments they had met with, Isa 26:15-18 to which an answer is returned, promising a glorious resurrection, Isa 26:19 and calling upon the people of God to retire to their chambers for protection in the mean while, until the punishment to be inflicted on the inhabitants of the earth for their sins was over, Isa 26:20,21.