Isaiah 26:1-11

A Song of Praise

1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.

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

3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

5 He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.

6 Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.

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

8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,^[a]we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

10 But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.

11 LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

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Isaiah 26:1-11 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 35

1. S Isaiah 10:20
2. Isaiah 30:29
3. S Isaiah 14:32
4. Isaiah 32:18; Isaiah 60:18; Zechariah 2:5; Zechariah 9:8
5. S Psalms 48:13
6. S Psalms 24:7
7. Isaiah 4:3-4">Ps 2Isaiah 4:3-4; Psalms 85:13; S Isaiah 1:26; S Isaiah 4:3; Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 50:8; Isaiah 53:11; Isaiah 54:14; Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 62:2
8. S Job 22:21; S Isaiah 9:6,7; Philippians 4:7
9. S 1 Chronicles 5:20; S Psalms 22:5; S Psalms 28:7; S Isaiah 12:2
10. S Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 50:10
11. S Psalms 62:8
12. S Genesis 49:24
13. S Isaiah 25:12; Ezekiel 26:11
14. S Isaiah 25:2
15. S Isaiah 5:5
16. Isaiah 49:26
17. S Isaiah 3:15; S Isaiah 14:30
18. S Psalms 26:12
19. S Psalms 25:8
20. S Exodus 14:19; Isaiah 40:4; Isaiah 42:16
21. S Deuteronomy 18:18; Psalms 1:2; Isaiah 56:1; Isaiah 64:5
22. S Psalms 37:9; S Psalms 130:5
23. S Psalms 145:2; S Isaiah 12:4
24. S Psalms 119:55
25. Psalms 42:1-3; Psalms 63:1; Psalms 78:34; Isaiah 55:6
26. S 1 Chronicles 16:14
27. Matthew 6:33
28. Matthew 5:45
29. Isaiah 32:6; Isaiah 59:7,13
30. S 1 Samuel 12:24; Isaiah 22:12-13; Jeremiah 2:19; Hosea 11:7; John 5:37-38; Romans 2:4
31. S Psalms 10:12
32. Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 44:9,18
33. S Isaiah 9:7; Joel 2:18; Zechariah 1:14
34. Micah 7:16
35. S Isaiah 1:31; Hebrews 10:27

Footnotes 1

[a]. Or "judgments"