Isaiah 26:4-14

4 "¹Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting ²Rock.

5 "For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the ³unassailable city; ⁴He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

6 "⁵The foot will trample it, The feet of the ⁶afflicted, the steps of the helpless."

7 The ⁷way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, ⁸make the path of the righteous level.

8 Indeed, while following the way of ⁹Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; ¹⁰Your name, even Your ¹¹memory, is the desire of our souls.

9 ¹²At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me ¹³seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world ¹⁴learn righteousness.

10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not ¹⁵learn righteousness; He ¹⁶deals 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 ¹⁷do not see it. They see ¹⁸Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, ¹⁹fire will devour Your enemies.

12 LORD, You will establish ²⁰peace for us, Since You have also performed for us all our works.

13 O LORD our God, ²¹other masters besides You have ruled us; But through You alone we ²²confess Your name.

14 ²³The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; Therefore You have ²⁴punished and destroyed them, And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

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Isaiah 26:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 24

1. Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 50:10; Isaiah 51:5
2. Isaiah 17:10; Isaiah 30:29; Isaiah 44:8
3. Isaiah 25:12
4. Job 40:11-13
5. Isaiah 28:3
6. Isaiah 3:14, 15; Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 29:19
7. Isaiah 57:2
8. Psalms 25:4, 5; Psalms 27:11; Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 52:12
9. Isaiah 51:4; Isaiah 56:1
10. Isaiah 12:4; Isaiah 24:15; Isaiah 25:1; Isaiah 26:13
11. Exodus 3:15
12. Psalms 63:5, 6; Psalms 77:2; Psalms 119:62; Isaiah 50:10; Luke 6:12
13. Psalms 63:1; Psalms 78:34; Matthew 6:33
14. Isaiah 55:6; Hosea 5:15
15. Isaiah 22:12, 13; Isaiah 32:6, 7
16. Hosea 11:7; John 5:37, 38
17. Isaiah 44:9, 18
18. Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 37:32; Isaiah 59:17
19. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 9:18, 19; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 66:15, 24; Hebrews 10:27
20. Isaiah 26:3
21. Isaiah 2:8; Isaiah 10:11
22. Isaiah 63:7
23. Deuteronomy 4:28; Psalms 135:17; Isaiah 8:19; Habakkuk 2:19
24. Isaiah 10:3

Footnotes 8

[a]. Heb YAH, usually rendered LORD
[b]. Lit with "my soul I long"
[c]. Lit with "my spirit...I seek"
[d]. Lit "has"
[e]. Or "Let them see...and be"
[f]. Or "let the fire for Your adversaries devour them"
[g]. Or "cause to be remembered"
[h]. Or "shades"